Tobias Harris's avatar

Tobias Harris

@tobiasharris.bsky.social

698 followers 370 following 830 posts

Japanese politics analyst; author of The Iconoclast: Shinzō Abe and the New Japan; Chicago-born Cubs fan now living in DC; marathoner.

Substack: Observingjapan.substack.com.

Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I just watched the rotten borough episode of "Blackadder" with my eldest, which after the election night scene gave me an excuse to introduce him to Lord Buckethead and such.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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In honor of the other Tobias Harris's departure from Philly, I give you the time when I ran the Philly Marathon and made local news because of the shared name.

youtu.be/TdQl8QUJ21c?...

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Could be worse I guess. India has 2.6mn people per member of the Lok Sabha.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Pictured: the newly enlarged House of Representatives

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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A House of Representatives that was as representative as the House of Commons would have more than 3200 members.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Ha, I hadn't seen the news that he went back to Detroit.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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The idea that the US has a smaller House of Representatives than either of these countries given the population differentials is embarrassing.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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🇯🇵 ~123mn people, 465 lawmakers (lower house): 264,516 people per legislator 🇬🇧 ~67mn, 650 MP: 103,030 per MP 🇺🇲 ~333mn people, 435 lawmakers (lower house): 766,282 per legislator I think this should be considered a part of the "democratic deficit" in the US. Representatives are just too remote.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I'd say that this is too clever by half, but really that's giving it way too much credit.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I was pleased to join a webinar this morning hosted by the Stimson Center to discuss Abe Shinzo's legacy on the second anniversary of his assassination. It's available here: www.youtube.com/live/3TfhziV....

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I was pleased to join a webinar this morning hosted by the Stimson Center to discuss Abe Shinzo's legacy on the second anniversary of his assassination. It's available here: www.youtube.com/live/3TfhziV....

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Some notes on Tokyo's gubernatorial election, which both didn't surprise -- Koike won a third term comfortably -- and did -- a little-known mayor from Hiroshima rode a social-media-fueled campaign to a second place finish.

open.substack.com/pub/observin...

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Some notes on Tokyo's gubernatorial election, which both didn't surprise -- Koike won a third term comfortably -- and did -- a little-known mayor from Hiroshima rode a social-media-fueled campaign to a second place finish.

open.substack.com/pub/observin...

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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It's been a little while since I read them but it looks like the adaptation has its heart in the right place? Hard to tell from a trailer though.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I loved reading these to my kids too. Deciding to be hopeful about the movie.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Those sure are some words.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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It's a little bit funny that for all the cost Renhō paid for her cooperation with the Communists, Koike still got more than 30% of the JCP vote according to Mainichi's exit poll.
mainichi.jp/articles/202...

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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But for national significance, the nine Tokyo metro assembly by-elections (well, at least the eight with LDP candidates) could be more important.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Koike Yuriko has won a third term as Tokyo's governor, according to just about every media outlet. Seems pretty definitive given that the calls were made the moment the polls closed. www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20...

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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If birds are living dinosaurs, humans have gone to war using dinosaurs.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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That's what I do. Too many choices -- easier to get the same thing every time.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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As a fellow MoCoer, do you a) like Carmen's up in Rockville and b) have a go-to order?

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Seems like "what parts of Project 2025 do you disagree with?" or "what parts of it are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal?" would be good questions for a reporter to ask the other elderly presidential candidate, but what do I know.

on.ft.com/4ePQH0e

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Very different. Godzilla Minus One at least views ordinary Japanese people recovering from the war as capable of extraordinary heroism.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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The depiction of Godzilla's destruction was almost gleeful.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I watched "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" (2001) with my boys yesterday. That is DARK for a Godzilla movie. Godzilla as avenging spirit of Japan's war dead versus guardian spirits explicitly defending the land (and punishing wayward young people).

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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On the one hand, I think more proportionality is important just as a matter of principle. On the other hand, multiparty democracy requires a lot of negotiation that no one seems particularly interested in (and I can imagine the public getting frustrated with pretty quickly).

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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He should be forced to disavow them every day until election day.

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Karthik Sankaran's avatar Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social
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Tfw two of the candidates get the Earlybird special and the third one got the worm.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Even more broadly, I think there needs to be a revival of liberalism as a fighting creed.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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What do Leopold Bloom and Sir MixaLot have in common?

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I was going to say rejected character from the Upper Class Twit of the Year sketch.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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"Some of us continue to aspire to this happy ideal." At the most basic level, these guys are just freaks.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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You could do a "Daisy" ad for every section of the report.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Also, the Colby hate is an extremely niche thing that I'm glad to see is suitably represented here.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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I went and stood at Cemetery Ridge the first weekend after the 2016 election and it definitely made me feel a little better.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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Hard same (even before her anti-immigrant rant the other day).

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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At the rate the yen is going, they might have to do that just to meet their original goals.

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Dan Nexon's avatar Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social
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Years ago, someone on Twitter wrote that ‘your democracy is over already; you just don’t know it yet.’ Liberal democracy cannot survive in a two-party system where only one side is committed to it.

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Tobias Harris's avatar Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social
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The story of Carl von Ossietzky really ought to be better known too:

The Man Without a Party: The Trials of Carl von Ossietzky a.co/d/0c3cziuG

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Jacob T. Levy's avatar Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social
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At the risk of being tiresome in reposting my own writings on the separation of powers and executive accountability, since prominent scholars are now in the news saying "habeas corpus will still be OK"— Montesquieu's insight was precisely that it won't be.

dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG....

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