Bureaucrat stranglehold
Leave policymaking to trustworthy politicians
Shakyamuni, Ankokuronji
Ichimonji Limenitis camilla, Myōhōji
Sleeping Cat, Myōhonji
Blossoming vine, Shōeiji
Shell gatherers, Yuigahama
The long wave, Yuigahama
Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture
May 27, 2007
内閣支持率41％に急落、仕事ぶり「評価せず」49％・日経調査Whooooee! Somebody open a window!
Nikkei News
日本経済新聞社が25―27日に実施した世論調査で、安倍内閣の支持率は4月の前回調査から12ポイント急落し、政権発足後最低の41％となった。不支持率は44％と7ポイント上昇し、2カ月ぶりに「不支持」が「支持」を上回った。安倍内閣の仕事ぶりも「評価しない」が49％となり、「評価する」の33％を引き離している。
Courtesy: Mainichi Shimbun
May 28, 2007
Courtesy: Mainichi Shimbun
May 28, 2007
Not all of the gains and losses recorded may be significant. Of those contacted in the April poll, 29% identified themselves as LDP supporters and 16% as DPJ supporters. In this round, only 25% of those polled identified themselves as LDP supporters while 19% called themselves supporters of the DPJ.
Still the jump up for the DPJ in likability is double the support number, while the loss of likability for the LDP closely matches the decline in the number of firm supporters polled.
Looks like we got a game goin' on.
Later - The polling results from this weekend also seem to indicate that--racchi mondai fever to the contrary--there are some things not even archenemy North Korea can get to lift off.
Courtesy: Yomiuri Shimbun Caption:
"How far will it reach, this image of a policy that cares about the countryside?"
On the megaphone:
"The furusato nōzei" ("the old hometown local tax")
Courtesy: Mainichi Shimbun
May 22, 2007
(Click on image to enlarge)
Garment workers in the Kaesong Industrial ComplexWolfowitz Legacy Is Reviving Asian Monetary Fund
Bloomberg
By William Pesek
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Lost in the brouhaha over Paul Wolfowitz's tenure at the World Bank is what it means to Asia.
The word ``means'' is used here since Wolfowitz hasn't left yet amid a furor sparked by his involvement in a pay raise for his companion. His departure is effective June 30. So, the multilateral institution is stuck with an infamously unilateralist leader for six more weeks.
There's another reason to discuss Wolfowitz's 23 months as World Bank president in the present tense: His legacy is a work in progress. It's called the Asian Monetary Fund, and his peers at the International Monetary Fund may not be happy about it.
An Asia bailout fund was considered during the 1997-1998 crisis. It died a quick death amid strong U.S. resistance to Asia creating a counterpoint to the IMF, one over which the U.S. Treasury Department would have zero influence.
The IMF, of course, drew much ire during the crisis for demanding fiscal austerity and higher interest rates in return for bailouts. Since then, Asian governments have worked to wall off their economies from speculators and to stop outsiders dictating policies. Hence the unprecedented build-up of currency reserves. China alone has more than $1 trillion.
Earlier this month, finance ministers from 13 Asian nations agreed to pool part of their $2.7 trillion of foreign-exchange reserves to prevent a repeat of the crisis that depleted the region's holdings 10 years ago....
Debate on patriotism/ NOBUKATSU FUJIOKA: Holistic patriotic education still missing
Special to The Asahi Shimbun
May 21, 2007 - Is it necessary to provide Japanese children with education aimed at fostering patriotism? The answer is yes.
Let me illustrate my point by depicting a classroom scene. In Japanese schools, children are taught simple but structured Japanese history lessons for the first time in the sixth grade. The following scene describes the first lesson. The teacher asks a student: "Do you know how many of your ancestors were living four centuries ago, when Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of Tokugawa Shogunate, was in power?" The student appears confused because he does not understand the question.
Watching his reaction, the teacher gives out a work sheet to each student with a family tree, at the bottom of which appears the student's name. It shows two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and so on. With each generation (about 30 years) the number of ancestors doubles. Thus, theoretically, four centuries ago, a single child can be traced back to about 10,000 ancestors.
But going further back into the past, the calculation hits a paradox. The total number of ancestors of a single child would exceed the total population of Japan at the time. This is because we mistakenly assume that we do not share the same ancestors. Actually, the farther back we go, the more our ancestors overlap.
Thus the child makes new discoveries. Contemporary Japanese are distant relatives who share the same ancestors. In any given period of Japanese history, the child discovers that those ancestors had constructed and paved new paths to walk upon. History is a constant relay of culture and tradition, and the child finds himself at the receiving end of this continuous process. His thoughts take him to his network of ancestors, and to the fact that he would never have existed, if there had been a single missing ancestor...
Vietnamese residents look for their names on the voters' list at a polling station in Hanoi May 20, 2007.
Courtesy: Reuters
Holy [expletive deleted]!
Sure. Vietnam is experimenting with only a highly restricted form of democracy. But come on, this is a national election. In Vietnam.
Will Vietnam get invited to Foreign Minister Aso's big bash?
Shinto, like Japan itself, originated in the mists of mythology. Two ancient texts record those myths, but Shinto has no sacred scripture, no Judeo-Christian Bible or Muslim Koran.
Shinto's gods number 8 million, led by Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, the sun goddess.
The lakes, rivers, mountains and rice fields each have gods to watch over them.
None, however, are ascribed the power of God or Yahweh or Allah.
Moreover, Shinto and Buddhism coexisted after Buddhism was imported from China. Japanese, unlike Westerners who belong to only one denomination, see no conflict in following the tenets of both faiths...
What is perplexing, Dr. Green, is that you are given even a half-an-inch of newspaper column space after your -- shall we say less-than-100%-successful? -- conceptualization of an effective response to the North Korean nuclear and missile development programs during your five plus years inside the Bush White House.Pyongyang thrives on America's constant concessions
Financial Times
By Michael GreenPublished: May 17 2007 - After North Korea's nuclear test in October, the Bush administration put together an impressive international coalition to contain and roll back Pyongyang’s proliferation activities: the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved sanctions against Pyongyang; South Korea froze all new economic aid and co-operation; Japan stopped ships known to be making drug runs for the North; and Chinese officials engaged in an unprecedented debate about the need for even greater pressure to force Kim Jong Il to accept denuclearisation.
It is therefore perplexing to see the US now take a series of unilateral steps to unravel this policy and reward North Korea for doing . . . well, nothing.
The kisha clubs are press clubs affiliated with every important governmental organization in the country. They originally served the worthwhile purpose of enabling reporters to act as a group to force the government to divulge information. The impetus for their formation was the government’s refusal in 1890 to allow reporters to cover the first session of the Diet.Another decayed and anachronistic part of the postwar regime, perhaps? Mr. Prime Minister, your thoughts?
Now, however, the clubs are more likely to stifle information than to facilitate its disclosure and distribution. Critics charge that club members merely regurgitate government press releases. Reporters cannot attend press conferences unless they are press club members, and this requires a considerable expense of time and effort. This hinders not only the access of foreign journalists to the news; it also limits the access of freelance journalists and reporters for trade journals in Japan.
When Abe talks about discarding the postwar regime, what does that mean? What part of the regime? Just the security bits? Or the whole bloody mess? If so, why isn't Abe talking about destroying the LDP, which has played an outsized role — arguably a more significant role than the constitution — in shaping postwar Japan?
Vestiges of the 1955 system, which has long distorted policy by placing sectional and local interests above national interests, remain. Why isn't Abe turning his attention to this significant piece of the "postwar regime"?
The true meaning of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the United StatesI think I am going to be sick. Remind me, did my tax yen pay for this?
The Japan Times
By Mitsuru Kitano
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - WASHINGTON — Most of the reporting and reviews surrounding the visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the United States on April 26-27 focused on the issue of North Korea or the wartime "comfort women," but in truth, the significance of the visit was much broader.
First, the 90-minute summit meeting at Camp David on April 27 was of great significance to both Abe and U.S. President George W. Bush in that they confirmed the "irreplaceable Japan-U.S. alliance" and committed to strengthening it further.
Characteristic of the meeting was that the two leaders devoted about half of the 90-minute meeting to their tete-a-tete talk. Abe told Bush that he would strive to move Japan beyond the postwar regime as the mission of the Abe administration and that he was determined to carry through structural reforms in the economic area.
The fact that the prime minister of Japan and the president of the U.S. laid bare their respective political convictions and talked frankly about what they are trying to achieve through their policies deepens the Japan-U.S. alliance sustained by our shared values of freedom and democracy. This is what was achieved at the summit meeting at Camp David.
...the meeting between Abe and congressional leaders had a substantive meaning to further strengthen the ties between Japan and the U.S. Among those attending this meeting were the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Minority Leader John Boehner, as well as such influential senators as Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens, who have personally valued the Japan-U.S. relationship.And I have nothing to say about whether that nasty turncoat Representative Mike Honda was invited to the meeting or not. Look at me, I've already forgotten him completely! Learn from my example!
...the fact that Abe visited the U.S. with his wife broadened the width of summit diplomacy. Mrs. Abe visited cultural and educational facilities in Washington. She also deepened interchanges with the president and Mrs. Bush and gave them a favorable impression. "Prime Minister Abe married very well," Bush said. Adding to the fact that the two leaders came to call each other "George" and "Shinzo" (this was proposed by Bush), it was a big plus for bilateral relations that this personal relationship of trust was built.Look I call my dog by his first name--it doesn't mean a damn thing.
Currently, the Japan-U.S. alliance has transcended a bilateral relationship between Japan and the U.S.; it is an alliance for Asia and the world. It is sustained by multifaceted people-to-people relationships. Should the debate on the results of Abe's visit to the U.S. be confined to a small number of issues and fail to notice its wide impact, the significant outcome of this visit will be overlooked.Yes, if the debate on the results of Abe's visit to the U.S. is confined to a small number of issues and fails to notice its wide impact, the significant outcome of this visit will be overlooked. You are correct. Good. A+.
Mitsuru Kitano is minister for public affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington.And he will get paid this month, on time, for doing such a crackerjack job.
Courtesy: The Asahi Shimbun
"The move in the direction of the Abe Line gains speed!"
The editors just could not choose a more flattering a photo of the Prime Minister, could they?
見つめる首相 視線の先は国民？選挙？
東京新聞
安倍晋三首相が最近、首相官邸内で記者団の質問に答える「ぶら下がり」取材の際に、テレビカメラをじっと見ながら話す「カメラ目線」で答えている。カメラの先の国民に直接訴えたいようだが、質問する記者の方は見ないため、不自然さがぬぐえない。
首相は昨年九月の就任当初、世耕弘成首相補佐官（広報担当）のアドバイスもあって「カメラ目線」だった。だが、テレビ番組などで面白おかしく取り上げられたため、一カ月ほどでやめた。その後は、記者の方を向いたり、全体を見渡すように話していた。
再び目線をカメラに向けるようになったのは、ここ三週間ほど前から。米国・中東歴訪の意気込みや集団的自衛権研究の狙いなどの質問に対し、カメラを凝視して考えを語った。靖国神社に「真榊（まさかき）料」を奉納したかどうかについても、明言を避けつつ、カメラに向かって「国民の皆さまの理解をいただきたい」と訴えた...
"As for whether I will pay a visit to the Shrine or not, or as to whether I had [a masakaki] installed or not, I will not say."Check it out here.
If Japan is to revise its constitution, it should do so under a prime minister who is capable of soberly assessing the matter, not one who is utterly consumed by the idea of revision as redemption.You can read the rest of the post here.
緯度経度】リベラル派が日本の改憲支持 - 古森義久Really?
産経新聞
安倍晋三首相の４月下旬の米国訪問では日本側で報道のハイライトをほとんどあびなかった重要な出来事がひとつあった。米国議会下院外交委員会のトム・ラントス委員長が安倍首相に対し日本の憲法改正への支持を述べたことだった。
米側の日本憲法への態度の変遷をもう２０年以上も追ってきた私には、「ああ歴史とはこのように変わっていくのか」と、つい感慨を覚えさせられる言葉だった。日本側でのこんごの改憲論議でも米国の反応を測るうえで重みを発揮していく言明ともなろう...
“I felt a surge of emotion when I realized that this furniture had watched over the progress of Japan-U.S. relations for over 150 years,” Abe said.
Technical issues delay Raptors leaving JapanOtherwise, F-22s are just grrrrrrreat!
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Two of the newest — and most expensive — fighters in the Air Force wrapped up a three-month deployment and roared out of Japanese skies Thursday, completing the F-22 stealth fighter's debut on the international stage.
The planes, the last of a dozen F-22s on the deployment, left the southern Japanese island of Okinawa several hours later than the rest because of "maintenance concerns," the Air Force said in a statement from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.
The statement did not elaborate on what the problems were.
It said after a complete check, the planes were approved to leave Kadena and move to "another location in the Pacific region." The first 10 F-22s departed Kadena on schedule before dawn Thursday for their home at Langley Air Force Base, Va.
MANYIN: Emily, do we have time for one more? One more question.
QUESTIONER: Ayako Doi, Japan Digest publications.
Last November, after the election here, you could almost hear the gasp of horror among the Japanese business and government establishment when the Democrats took both houses of the Congress. Japanese, as far as we can remember in the last few decades, have always been more comfortable with a Republican administration, Republican policies, partly because the Democrats have focused on the conflicting economic interests. And then, you know, they still remember that. Assuming that -- well, possibly the Democrat administration will come in this Capitol in two years or even if it doesn't, Republicans probably won't have as free hand as it has had in terms of foreign policymaking. Do you see the rise of the Democrats -- the rise and vigor of the Democrats -- in the foreign policy arena affecting U.S.-Japan relationship in the medium term future?
GREEN: You know, I can't prove this, but you know, if you look back 100 years to Teddy Roosevelt, one gets a sense that Republican administrations tend to be a little more sympathetic to Japan. It's not consistently the case, but it goes even before the trade issues. The thing I would say, though, to reassure Japanese friends is if you look at the Armitage-Nye report -- people always forget Joe Nye, but it was co-chaired by Rich Armitage and Joe Nye, and the people who signed on were from both sides of the aisle -- I think there is bipartisan support for a strong alliance. And you know, McCain and Hillary Clinton are both surrounding themselves with people who are pushing that line I think. So, even within this early stage, you see people associating with candidates who are, you know, solid on Japan no matter who wins.
I think the affect on trade is pretty serious and significant, and it's going to be -- we'll know in the next month whether or not people like Charlie Rangel have gotten their caucus under control, and free trade will continue to be on the agenda. And so, it has an effect there. But you know, the reaffirmation and redefinition of the U.S.-Japan alliance -- the famous '96 Nye Initiative -- that was all under President Clinton. The Bush approach was, in many ways, the exact continuation of that. So I think the people are there on both sides to keep this going.
MANYIN: Do you want the last word?
CALDER: I think one has to remember that there have been many positive interactions between the Democrat Party and Japan. Having worked once upon a time with Edwin Reischauer academically and then, of course, thinking about his ambassadorship, I think the Reischauer years, the Kennedy years are one of the real high points. Cultural communication -- this has been something Democrats have always been concerned about. Environment, pluralism and an understanding and a respect for that, the role of Japan in the world, broadly speaking -- many Democratic presidents and supporters have strongly seconded that. And it was really at the Kennedy years that Japan joined the OECD, and Japan's role was broadened. Democrats have supported normalization in Japan's relations with Asia. The Korea-Japan normalization, for example. So, sometimes when -- I would echo what Mike said. Certainly, on both sides, U.S.-Japan relations has been appreciated by both parties. There have been difficulties, I think it's fair to say, on the trade side. Things often have been a little rockier in Democrat administrations. But we can't lose sight of the fact that U.S.-Japan relations is fundamentally a vital interest that's been appreciated by both parties.
MANYIN: And I would add that two of the Japan-specific hearings that have been held in the last couple of years -- on trade a couple of years ago and then the "comfort women" hearing just last month -- were dominated by Republican criticisms of Japan. So, when there are these overarching issues, it can get bipartisan -- bipartisanship alive and well and criticizing Japan as well.
Well, that brings our session to a close. Thank you very much for coming. Let's have a big hand for our panelists. (Applause.)
"I explained to the President that as the mission that my administration I will strive to move Japan beyond the post-war regime. "
"As part of this endeavor, I explained to the President that I launched on the eve of this trip a blue-ribbon panel for the purpose of reshaping the legal foundation for national security in a way that will benefit -- that will befit the times, now that the security environment surrounding Japan is undergoing major change."
"I visited Bethesda Navy Hospital and the Arlington Cemetery, and prayed for the repose of the souls of those who died for the cause of stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, and prayed for early recovery of those injured. And I would like to pay respect and express gratitude for the noble sacrifice the United States is making."
The 20th century was a century that human rights were violated in many parts of the world. So we have to make the 21st century a century -- a wonderful century in which no human rights are violated. And I, myself, and Japan wish to make significant contributions to that end. And so I explained these thoughts to the President.
