Playing off the PM

The useless revision of the Basic Law on Education ("Abe's looking out for the future of Japan." Oh yeah, sure he is) has passed.

Gag me with Fujiwara Masahiko samurai values pornography, please:

改正教育基本法が成立　「個」から「公」へ転換　制定５９年で大転換
(...)

首相は十五日、同法成立を受けて「改正は新しい時代の教育の基本理念を明示する歴史的意義を有する。基本法の精神にのっとり、個人の多様な可能性を開花させ、志ある国民が育ち、品格ある美しい国・日本をつくることができるよう、教育再生を推し進めます」とする談話を発表した。

Frankly I have already had it with the phrase "beautiful county"--or as it is here " a beautiful country with radiant qualities."

In weight and substance utsukushii kuni is the equivalent of the Bush Administration's "culture of life." It is become a marker for "I am a dweeb; I quake in fear of the anti-authoritarian Left of the 1960s."

It seems that some in the media agree:

Subway flyer for "Cool Japan" Special Edition of Brutus magazine
Marunouchi Line, Tokyo Metropolitan District. December 18, 2006.

Headline in pink reads, "A Beautiful Country?
Right now, what is turning on the whole world is a Japan that is cool!"