Japan: the electoral victory of the government provokes international concerns

The election victory of the Upper House of Japan may give further impetus to political action of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but very concerned about their neighbors. The result ensures greater stability to the executive in charge, thanks to the majority in both houses of parliament. In domestic politics the new balance will allow the strengthening of economic reforms based on an action that relies on monetary policy through the depreciation of the yen, public spending and structural reforms, such as the labor market, characterized by rules that facilitate the recruitment, but also the dismissal of workers, combined with tax increases to slow down the volume of debt. This action reflects the search for consensus of a worried electorate on economic trends and that was particularly focused on these issues and that is why the promise of Shinzo Abe to bring Japan to be more competitive in the global economy has rewarded with the election victory. But along with issues relating to the economic sphere, the program Abe has elements which are certainly not secondaries side. These are matters of international policy that will have a whole series of consequences in the delicate area of ​​Southeast Asia. The desire to reform the constitution, written jointly with the U.S. at the end of the Second World War, a new perspective undoubtedly less pacifist, worries countries such as China and South Korea, which have long-standing disputes with Japan the treatments received by their people during the occupation of Japan. Although now distant in time the echo of those events, nothing has been dormant feelings in national aversion to the empire of the rising sun. The intentions of transforming the self-defense forces, in an army equipped with modern weaponry and able to operate outside national borders is one of the pillars of the political program of Abe, which serves to support a stronger nation on the world stage and ensuring support due to the alliance with Washington. In fact, the Government of Japan has shown recently to leverage on nationalism always present in the country, to claim sovereignty over certain groups of islands with China and South Korea, arriving several times to touch the diplomatic incident, a harbinger of consequences more than dangerous. While the U.S. can make up a convenient ally determined against China, at the same time it is clear that Tokyo has to escape detection American diplomat causing developments totally unexpected and certainly not welcome. For the United States might conceivably be another kind of ally of Israel, this time in the equally delicate scenery of South East Asia, not easy to manage, but to which it is impossible to deny help. Then there is the question of the contrasts between Tokyo and Seoul, where South Korea is equally important for the U.S., for its strategic position and the key role of containment of the atomic state of North Korea. Washington does not need to disputes within the covenant and the attitude of Shinzo Abe could even become counter-productive.