The top or most interesting stories from Japan for the weekend of January 31
– After being granted a deadline on Thursday for a prisoner swap, the negotiations to release ISIS-hostage, Kenji Goto, seem to stall and then reach deadlock. But, early Sunday morning, it was revealed Goto had been executed.
World leaders joined Japan’s in condemning the execution with expressions of solidarity and some promising to continue taking the fight to terrorists.
Rinko Goto, Goto’s wife, released a statement on Thursday pleading for her husband to be released. Now in the wake of it, she expresses pride in her husband’s work but deep loss. She was joined by former colleagues and friends of Goto in celebrating his life’s work on reporting the suffering of children in conflict.
In the wake of the execution, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will look to debate on allowing Japan’s Self Defence Forces to come to the rescue of its citizens overseas (The Japan Times, Reuters). Even before Goto’s death, Prime Minister Abe’s Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) colleagues expressed belief the crisis would ‘stiffen’ Abe’s resolve to wind back Japan’s pacifist constitution.
Journalist and author, Jake Adelstein, wrote in The Japan Times on Sunday – which went to print before it was clear Goto had been exectued – that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government had shown a lack of foresight, care or tact in dealing with the crisis, long before the first ransom video went online.
It will be interesting to see – considering how this execution will potentially change Japan’s pacifism and foreign policy – how the nation will use its recently reappointed seat on the United Nations Security Council.
If you’re interested in reading more on the crisis, The Japan Times created a special feed on its website.
– In other news, a survey of Japan’s female parliamentarians revealed 54% of them felt uncomfortable about sexist acts committed by fellow male lawmakers. Surprisingly, 115 of the 964 polled had been victims of sexual harassment themselves.
– The author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty, has called on the Abe government to raise taxes on high earners whilst in Japan to promote the publication of his book in Japanese
Piketty even met with the leaders of Japan’s top opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to discuss economics and ‘Abenomics’. The DPJ have been strong critics of Prime Minister Abe’s proposed economic reforms and after having recently elected a new leader after a disastrous result at the recent December 14 snap elections, they may be interested in presenting a strong fight in the Diet.
