In a recent cabinet reshuffle, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has picked a couple outspoken conservatives as his new top ministers. these choices are bound to generate more tension with Beijing and Seoul during in his remaining ten months in office.  As a leading candidate to succeed Koizumi, Mr. Shinzo Abe was given the powerful post of chief cabinet secretary. As the grandson of accused war criminal and former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Mr. Abe has staunchly defended Mr. Koizumi's controversial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo that has set off the predictable diplomatic protests in East Asian capitals. The position of Chief Cabinet Secretary is viewed by many as a stepping stone to the top job. Abe will act as prime minister when Koizumi is abroad in his new post. In the next few years, it will be interesting to watch what influence, if any, Abe's family history will have on his political ambitions.  Starting in 1935, grandfather Kishi played a...(Read Full Post)