Moves to join the talks for the Transpacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) agreement had been put on hold since the March 11 disasters devastated the Tohoku region. But Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is now eagerly pushing for progress.
He hopes to accelerate discussions on the TPP within the Cabinet and the Democratic Party of Japan so he can announce a clearer stance on whether Japan will join the TPP talks when he attends a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders in Hawaii on Nov. 12-13.
One wonders whether the Cabinet and the DPJ can make a correct judgment on the merits and demerits of Japan's joining the multilateral comprehensive free-trade scheme in such a short period of time. Another problem is that the government has not disclosed sufficient information about the TPP, which covers a large number of areas of economic activities — a much larger scope than an ordinary free-trade agreement — and has the potential to drastically change the lives of people in Japan.