Dear Gerry,

I'm glad you're plugged in to this email network and I enjoyed reading your thoughtful piece on electioneering in Japan. You are, after all, the pro. I still think that, over the course of several years, parties will sort themselves out on policy grounds. (A classless society shouldn't impede that; even Downs' super-simple model, after all, called for median voter parties competing on policy grounds.) But in the meantime, I'm planning field research, as you suggest, on how the nomination process is working now.

By the way, I'm surprised no one on the network is commenting on the current U.S.-Japan trade spat. Are we seeing a sea change in the relationship following the end of the Cold War? Or is the problem that there is no "front bench" capable of controlling the "back bench"? Of course, the U.S. position is totally hypocritical and indefensible before the WTO, so perhaps that is the more important factor here. But is there no one in Japan calling for more market opening measures, independent of U.S. pressure? What do you think about all of this?