[URL=http://http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060926/ap_on_re_as/japan_politics]http://http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060926/ap_on_re_as/japan_politics[/URL]

Highlights:

[QUOTE] Abe's roadmap takes Japan down a path toward a more robust military and more assertive foreign policy...

Key to Abe's push will be revising the constitution, which renounces war as a means of solving international disputes and has formed the cornerstone of Japan's post World War II identity. ...

Even his minister in charge of gender issues, Sanae Takaichi, is known for her right-leaning outlook. She's against a dual-surname proposal that would let married women keep their maiden names. ...

"From today, I will start building a new Japan," Abe said. "The Cabinet I appointed today is one that will create a beautiful Japan."...

Chinese President Hu Jintao has refused to meet with Koizumi since last year over his visits to the Yasukuni war shrine, which honors war criminals among Japan's war dead and is considered by critics to be a glorification of Tokyo's past militarism. ...
[/QUOTE]

Well that's just great. :rolleyes: