Just some summary points as this year the summer doldrums will prove to be anything but:
1. The Japanese elections for the upper-house unfolded true to expectations but the impact of the win for P.M. Abe will take time to play out. There are winners and losers in Abe’s victory. One of the losers could well be the prime minister as the final results do not provide enough margin to pursue constitution revision because the LDP does not have enough votes without the support of its partner Komeito. More importantly, the TPP (TransPacific Partnership) may not pass because of several opposition victories in the rural prefectures. As Tobias Harris maintains, the “bleak outlook for ratification in the U.S. … the {Japanese} government will have to decide whether it is worth expending political capital on an agreement that may not come into force.”