A Japanese professor criticized the snap general election triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's dissolution of the lower house as unreasonable, which just leaves a campaign period of 16 days for a general election of the House of Representatives when Takaichi announced the decision on Jan 23.
The decision is aimed to capitalize on her cabinet's current high approval ratings, according to Japanese media, and the voting in the general election began on Sunday morning, with over 1,200 candidates competing for 465 seats in the House of Representatives.
Speaking in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Sunday, Mikitaka Masuyama, professor at Tokyo's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, revealed the motivations behind calling this snap election.
"From my point of view, it is just how selfish attempts to consolidate the parliamentary base for Takaichi. There is no reason to have the snap election this time around, so we have to have the delays in the execution of the budget and in the heavy snow regions, having election is very costly and makes it a lot difficult for even ordinary people to go to the voting booth. So, it is cannot be justified to have an election this time around," said Masuyama.
The primary focus of the election is whether the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) will secure a majority and allow the Takaichi administration to continue.
Speaking at a street rally on Jan 27, Takaichi said she wishes to "win the public trust," while reiterating her pledge to resign if the ruling camp fails to win a majority.
Analysts said Takaichi's decision to dissolve the lower house and call an early election while staking her position as prime minister reflects mounting internal pressures on her administration.
The recent personal scandals, economic and diplomatic policy risks, and her controversial remarks on foreign policy have made it difficult for the prime minister to fully implement her own agenda, pushing her to take a bold gamble.
"If Takaichi would win this election by landslide, she would assume the election gave her mandate. So, she probably becomes more confident in her stance on the security policy," said Masuyama.
"But I do understand that the international security environment is rapidly changing. I think we have to enhance defense capability. That does not necessarily mean that Japan to adopt a posture that could heighten the tensions with neighboring countries. I would rather see political groups gain power that enable Japan to play a more proactive role in international cooperation," he added.
Japanese expert: snap election unreasonable
Japanese expert: snap election unreasonable
A documentary has revealed how generations of fishermen in south China's Hainan Province navigated the South China Sea for centuries with no GPS, no weather forecasts, relying only on a handwritten manual known as the Genglubu.
The documentary, Genglubu: Charting the South China Sea, premiered Thursday on China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Unintelligible to outsiders, the Genglubu was an invaluable navigational guide for fishermen and one of the most important items they carried on board.
"What Tanmen fisherman do is dive into the sea and catch fish ourselves. Finding better reefs means catching more fish. And that's why we keep going back to the South China Sea. My grandfather and father would study it like homework before setting out," said Wang Zhendong, curator of the Genglubu Museum in Hainan's Qionghai City.
Wang cannot personally interpret the old manuscript, but he understands its importance: his father studied it before every voyage, and his grandfather trusted it with his life.
"When electronic equipment fails, if you don't understand navigation, how are you going to bring everyone home safely? A captain needs to understand experience. So where does that experience come from? It comes from the Genglubu. It's the ancient knowledge recorded generation after generation," said Wang Shubao, Wang Zhendong's father.
Over generations, that knowledge was written down in the Genglubu.
"Geng" referred to both time and distance traveled at sea. One "geng" was about two hours of sailing, or roughly 10 nautical miles.
"Lu" referred to compass bearings and direction, while "bu" meant "book."
Without modern instruments, fishermen learned to read the sea -- its currents, its depths, its changing moods.
Knowledge shaped their navigation. The Genglubu recorded that knowledge.
One line in it says: From Tanmen port to the Xisha Islands' Zhaoshu (Paracel's Tree Island), follow the direction of the Qian, Sun, which is northwestward. It covers a distance of some 150 nautical miles.
Just a few lines, enough to guide a boat across open water.
One surviving manuscript, copied by Wang Shitao, records 279 routes, making it one of the most detailed versions of the Genglubu known today. Its routes link Hainan with island groups across the South China Sea, with some extending even farther.
"Before Zheng He's voyages (1405-1433) to the Western Seas, the fishermen had already been working these waters of the South China Sea," said Zhou Weimin, a professor at Hainan University.
Experts say the Genglubu is more than a practical guide to navigation; it is also a record of China’s maritime history, cultural heritage and the accumulated wisdom of a people shaped by the sea.
"The Genglubu is a navigation handbook born of experience accumulated through long-term practice. It forms an integral part of China's maritime system. It is a cultural legacy created by our ancestors and a crystallization of the wisdom of a people with a long maritime tradition," said Liu Yijie, a professor at the Center for Studies of Fujian and Taiwan at Fujian Normal University.
Documentary decodes Genglubu - South China Sea's ancient GPS
