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AbstractIn 2019, Japan’s Ministry of Environment (MoE), led by Koizumi Shinjirō, embarked on a quest to end the country’s ‘coal addiction’ against the coal industry’s interests, as represented by the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Against all expectations, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō sided with MoE and implemented restrictions. It initiated the end of Japan’s government support for ‘unabated’ coal-fired power plant exports despite their continued high demand from overseas. This article uses the Advocacy Coalition Framework to explain the importance of the MoE and Environment Minister Koizumi Shinjirō in shifting Abe’s posture towards the global energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main focuses of the Abe administration's foreign policy is overseas infrastructure development assistance. Evidence suggests that Japan has returned to its traditional approach to foreign aid, the "Japan model," after an interval of a few decades. This article analyzes the international and domestic contexts behind the recent changes in Japan's aid policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, some Japanese prime ministers have exhibited a nationalistic tendency, particularly in their foreign policies. The increasing nationalistic appeal by recent leaders marks a sharp contrast with previous leaders, who were unwilling to cause friction with other countries and thus took more centrist positions. More interestingly, those recent leaders, including Koizumi Junichiro, previously adopted a more modest stance. This article seeks to explain the increase in nationalistic appeal, particularly between 2001 and 2006, among Japanese leaders by focusing on some important changes in the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP's) presidential election procedures. Drawing on the study of US primary elections, I argue that the increase in the weight of rank-and-filers' votes vis-à-vis the LDP Diet members' votes in the LDP presidential election encouraged some candidates to take more ideologically extreme positions. In other words, much like US primaries, the LDP presidential elections can have a tendency to pull some candidates toward extreme positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]