"I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life."
Augustus McCrae. Retired Texas Ranger.*

I wouldn't call myself an educated man. Daydreamed through the 8th-11th grades. Finished university after the USAF on one of the versions of the G.I. Bill. Even had to spend the first year or so at a community college. Still, I thought I knew a few things until September of 2008 when I learned that I didn't know squat about the way the world works. I realized that I was an idiot and that I would never be like those who can confidently predict the future and know the way to solve the world's problems. I mean, I ain't no Nobel Prize winner like Paul Krugman. (They don't give those things out for nothing, you know.) Plus, I am an American which as everyone knows is the most poorly-educated group on earth. Why, just a week or so ago, there was more hand-wringing in the US over the fact that fewer US students were graduating from universities despite the absurdly inflated costs of doing so. What the hell, put the poorer of them in the military and send 'em to well-off foreign lands to "preserve freedom."

Fortunately, I now live in a country which is ideal for an idiot because of the ability to learn from the highly educated populace. I learn something new and valuable nearly every day. It could be a trivial thing like I learned Monday: People in Osaka walk faster than people in any other city on earth while folks in NY walk second fastest, and those in Tokyo walk third fastest. And here I had been thinking that most people in Tokyo walked at about the pace of a dead snail that is reading email on a cell phone. Stoopid me.

Or it could be something breathtaking and potentially world changing.

Tuesday started as a normal day. I had been given my usual Tuesday task of gathering information about some sort of puzzling New-Think, this time concerning Red Ocean/Blue Ocean. This had apparently been the subject of a popular 2005 business book which I had not read nor even heard of. These small details would not stop me from finding out as much as I could about the subject in 3-4 hours and then pretend I had a clue of what I was talking about.

Fortunately, I found an interview with the authors in which they clearly explained the concept:

We use the terms red oceans and blue oceans to describe the market universe. Red oceans are all of the industries in existence now... ...Blue oceans, in contrast denote all industries not in existence today...

I cut a little, but the above should be sufficient to prompt most to run out and either buy the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, or jump from a tall building. My understanding is that a good "blue ocean strategy" company will try to find customers and markets by thinking outside the box, throwing out the Old-Think, and establishing a new paradigm---all very unusual for a cutting-edge business book.

Oh, to the point of this post...

Later, I got to chat with a fellow whose major had been economics. He is now a fairly high level executive---shall we say in the top level of his organization which is one of the largest in his industry. We talked economics, as he is wont to do when he is not detailing some unique character traits of the Japanese (which seem incredibly commonplace to an uneducated flunky) and how the current environment is affecting his industry and company. For an international company heavily dependent on imported raw materials, the increasing demand for those raw materials is pushing up prices and eliminating profits.

Then he let me in on what may be a secret. There is sort of a cartel controlling prices on these raw materials. It involves a number of foreign countries, including one in South America in which a minority of folks are of European descent. (1-2%, according to him.)

This was interesting. We had discussed this before, but not in such detail. The way he was talking, I began to suspect the Illuminati, but after beating around the bush a bit, he told me: The Jews!

Oh yes, I should have known! It seems many here take for granted the "theory" that to some degree or another Jews control the US, or tend to believe in a general Jewish conspiracy to control the world, but this was the first that I had heard that they controlled a major raw materials market.

Later, as dim-witted and poorly educated as I---and all other Americans (meaning only the US in this case)---am, I began to get an idea. I don't know why I am the only one to think of this, but I may have solved not only my problems, but Japan's and perhaps the rest of the world's. With so much of the world's power and money in the hands of Jewish people, why not convert to Judaism? It may be immoral if one is not sincere, but it would seem to be a pretty simple way to resolve financial worries. I could certainly use the power and influence that this small percentage of the world's population is rumored to have, too. It may even make me more welcomed by some here.

And the risk of an aimless, goalless, thoughtless, clueless leadership class leading the country to the Fujiwara-ian glory of the past of poverty and hardship for all except the powerful elites? Could not Japan convert to Judaism and take advantage of that power and wealth? Isn't there some evidence that Japanese are actually Jewish anyway?

I feel honored that I may have stumbled into the secret of solving all the world's problems in a discussion with a man who, without a doubt, represents one of the most well-educated classes in the country. Not only that, I got to experience that mysterious Eastern wisdom which has been handed down through the generations, and which, despite the fact that we are in roughly the same age group, makes me feel like I was born yesterday while he has the accumulated knowledge of a zillion years.

Whereas these sorts of Jewish conspiracy theories would not be considered acceptable in many other countries, and might be taken as a sign of ignorance or even antisemitism, we can't use that sort of Old-Think about subscribers to the theories in Japan. Things are different here. It's all harmless and innocent. Sort of a quaint and cute provincialism. By the way, my acquaintance is very polite and seems a nice guy. So how could anything be wrong?

*From the 1989 TV mini-series, Lonesome Dove. I think ol' Gus would have saved a lot on powder, balls, and caps for his Walker Colt had he left the plains of Texas and Montana for my current neck of the woods.

We can help

(Revised and reposted.)

Apologies to Billy Swan. (Oh well...soundtrack has been removed....)

Oops. He can't say that!

Apparently, there have been some calls for Japan to ask the US to reject pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons. On the evening NHK TV news* Aso basically rejected the idea as unrealistic, and the head of the Social Democratic Party expressed her anger that LDP was not going to press the US to do such a thing.

Then, most embarrassingly, Kazuo Shii of the JCP gave his opinion saying that it was hypocritical of Japan to talk of controlling nukes when it was under the US nuclear umbrella.

Friggin' Commie.

*I listened to the English subchannel on NHK and I am going by their translation.

MangaMan still has it

He's not just a soon to be gone (not gone enough, though) gaffe-prone goof:

Prime Minister Taro Aso drew quick fire Saturday after he told a Yokohama gathering of young people the "elderly have no talents other than working."

Speaking at a meeting of the Junior Chamber International Japan, Aso pointed out the differences between youths and seniors, saying, "It would be too late if you (meeting participants) learned to play after the age of 80." Japan Times*

If the LDP is still around in 60 years, those now young folks could go into politics when they reach that age, or is 80 too young for a leadership position?

One should not take this stuff the wrong way though, as it was just Aho's way of encouraging the elderly to remain active. And we know that man is no fool---he could never have achieved his position by being an idiot of some sort.

*Good luck on loading the Japan Times if you have to wait for the new ad which pop-up blockers block. On Firefox it takes 2-3 minutes to load if for some stupid reason I decide to wait. Great idea Japan Times. Who "thought" that up?

Should have thought of that earlier

"We have just received a sharp verdict from Tokyo voters," Nobuteru Ishihara, LDP's acting secretary-general and head of the party's Tokyo chapter, said Sunday night. "We'd appreciate some time to stop (and think)." Asahi Shimbun

His daddy may get some thinking time too.

And it's already old news, but soon-to-be-ex-PM Aso has finally decided to hold an election at the end of August and to dissolve the Lower House next week.

Apologize---if you are sorry

In May, the Japanese ambassador to the US officially apologized to former POWs of the Bataan Death March.*

Now a former Australian POW and the son of another POW are in Japan seeking an apology from PM Aso. The POWs, James Coombs and the late Patrick McAnulty (represented by his son), were slave laborers at the Aso Mining company during the war. Note that this is an apology from Aso as heir of the mining company, not an official apology by the government.

Lest anyone think that this apology stuff is going to be a habit, a "lawyer" who seemingly admits that he doesn't know what he is talking about said the following in regards to the mens request:

Katsuhiko Takaike, a lawyer who has been studying the issue of postwar compensation, admitted he was not familiar with the Aso Mining case but said Aso probably would be better off not apologizing.

"I can understand that (Coombs and McAnulty's father) suffered terribly and they want an apology," Takaike said. "But Japanese POWs also suffered illegal treatment too. We would have to start talking about that, too, or else it would be one-sided."

This is an argument of a lawyer? It sounds like one from a 5-year old. Naturally, the 5-year old mind of this fellow jumps into the everybody-did-it excuse too. A lawyer? Seriously? I knew that the government tried to increase the number of lawyers, but I didn't know that they now sell licenses at 7-11.

Waseda University visiting professor, Aiko Utsumi, author of The POW Policy of the Japanese Military, has a different opinion:

"I think should Aso meet with them — it is natural for him to apologize for the past....Aso is heir to the mine..."

Aso (and the government) denied that his company used POWs for slave labor until recently. He has not replied to letters sent by the men earlier this year.

All quotes from Pair seek POW apology from Aso at The Japan Times.

And speaking of the Death March this is interesting.

*There has been some debate on whether or not it was an official apology on behalf of the Japanese government, or a personal apology from the ambassador. However, it seems to be generally accepted as official. A video link to the speech/apology is here.

Flu Panic Spreads as North Korea sets off nuke

THE TIMES OF NEW YORK

Unmasked residents, eyes pixelated in fear,

flee across the street after an uncovered sneeze
was reported in a local eyeglass shop.

TOKYO--Panic spread out of control in Japan today as it was announced that the unpredictable leader of North Korea had set off a nuke just days after Iran got in the headlines by testing a new missile. To add to the nuke fears, a shortage of masks in Tokyo and as far away as Nagano prefecture has caused many to flee in hysteria at the slightest hint of a cough or sneeze. Government officials have been in meetings since the detonation to determine if these combined panics are necessary or not. Reports that the WHO is considering revising its pandemic alert levels to eliminate Level 6 "Pandemic" and go straight to a Level 7 "Kiss your ass goodbye" are adding to the chaos.

Many Monday commuters were seen holding their breath to avoid being infected by either Swine flu virus or radioactive fallout from the North Korean blast. Due to the shortage of anti-Swine flu masks, only one person in Tokyo was spotted wearing the life-saving item.

Millions flee a station exit
gasping for air in a blind panic
after holding their breath for the
duration of their commute.


By noon Monday, the outspoken but harmless nationalist, Governor Shintaro Ishihara was seen mounting a tank in preparation to lead a preemptive strike against dangerous, criminally-inclined, rioting non-Japanese and little old ladies.

UPDATE: Tokyo--Prime Minister Aso announced that the elections scheduled for later this summer were to be postponed indefinitely. "We cannot afford to play politics as long as there are nuclear weapons and viruses on the planet," Mr. Aso reluctantly stated.

In a separate and entirely unrelated development, the Tokyo prosecutor's office announced an investigation into the DPJ's new leader Yukio Hatoyama over past claims that Hatoyama had contacts in terrorist organizations. Prosecutors vigorously denied any political motives when it was pointed out that it was the LDP's Kunio Hatoyama who had made those claims about himself while Justice Minister, not Yukio Hatoyama. A spokesman said that the charges were very serious and that Yukio Hatoyama had to be impartially, but thoroughly investigated to make sure that he was not Kunio Hatoyama.

Visiting Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said that the Bush administration was responsible for all these problems.

Ima Loony, head of the NPO "Ethics in Eikaiwa Chain Schools" and Oi Bakero of "Reporters with No Standards" contributed to this article from under a blue tarp along the Tama River.

Ohhh...Fun awaits

Swine flu. Just before Golden Week. Gee, wonder if anyone will bring it back? Not that it would be a problem, because if someone felt a severe cold or flu coming on, they'd stay home and not get on the subway and cough and sneeze all over everyone else and then do the same thing in the office. That would never happen here. And the fellow cooking/preparing/handling your food would wash his hands after he sneezed into them before touching what you are about to eat.

Well, there may be a few exceptions such as the guy at the Starbucks at Akasaka-mitsuke station just across from the subway gates. I mean the fact that a few weeks ago, I watched a guy do that exact thing should not deter anyone from eating there. Being the humorless type, I refused to eat my over-priced factory-built food product with the added germs. Even refused the coffee. I also complained to Starbucks Tokyo. Their reply? Like McDonald's Japan, none. Their way of saying f**k you, I suppose.

Anyway, nobody should worry about a possibly deadly flu virus coming to Japan. Have no fear for MangaMan and the rest are well-prepared and will take aggressive, effective action just like they have for every other problem to hit the country recently. With this on top of all the other problems, perhaps we can find a way to delay elections until all the world's problems are solved. We can't distract our LDP leaders with an election.

"Aso Mining's Indelible Past" at Japan Focus

The DPJ's Fujita Yukihisa has a translated article on Japan Focus concerning Prime Minister Aso and his family's mining company. Although I earlier poked fun at him for one of his quirks, Fujita was instrumental in getting Aso to suddenly discover that there actually had been POWs at Aso Mining. Aso, doing his best Sgt Shultz imitation, previously claimed that because he was 5 years old when the war ended:



As Fujita wrote about what Aso seemed to be saying with that excuse: “Prewar events that took place before I was born or things in foreign countries that I cannot see for myself do not concern me as prime minister.” Such behavior by a leader who represents a country is obviously unacceptable.

...POW issues have never been properly discussed in a political context during the 53 years since the MHLW took charge of the materials. I trembled when I saw the records that were revealed and thought, “God has not abandoned those 300 POWs.” This was because among the source records that survived document burning, for some reason only the 1945 issues of the “Fukuoka Monthly Reports” were found. It was from May to August 1945 that the Allied POWs were used by Aso Mining. Had the records for those months not been discovered, it is highly possible that the 300 POWs would have been consigned to oblivion by Prime Minister Aso and the Japanese government...Full article at Japan Focus.

Aho comes up with new stimulus plan

Prime Minister Taro Aso said Saturday the government might make substantial cuts in the gift and inheritance taxes..."(The government) will study reducing the tax by designating a period of years in which the elderly can give their money to their sons and grandchildren to buy houses and cars," Aso said.

Yea. That'll work in time for this recession. A newer, wimpier form of trickle down. Unfortunately, Taro is about 30 years late with that idea. Wait...isn't he from a wealthy family? Aren't wealthy families who have enough assets (land, especially) to pay large inheritance taxes gonna get the most benefit from this plan? The guy may not have a brain, but he's sure got gonads.

...the prime minister said the money would not be used unless passed from the elderly to the younger generation...

Why not? Gonna take it with them to the grave? He may have a point though. Fellows like him in the government could get it and spend it on the annual rerouting of the Tama River---for economic stimulus, of course.

All quotes from the Japan Times here.

Ozawa does the impossible

He's lost his lead over Aso, at least according to a poll by the Yomiuri Shinbun as reported by the IHT.

Aso was chosen by 32% as "best person to be prime minister", and Ozawa by 23%.

A pox on both their houses. (I've always wanted to say that.)

"A Massive -5.8%"

According to a TV report by the BBC this morning, Japan's economy is predicted to fall by "a massive 5.8%" this year. No problem. We'll all have an extra ¥12000.

Go fishin' for trouble and

ya might get it.

...reports soon emerged that central figures of Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have also taken donations linked to the construction firm, including influential former premier Yoshiro Mori.

While Mori, an LDP heavyweight, said Thursday that he would return money linked to the company, reports also said former finance minister Koji Omi has received Nishimatsu-linked donations. AFP

Shocking. Just shocking. Now my faith in the purity of the LDP has been destroyed.

But the question remains: "Why have only Ozawa's offices been raided at this time before elections?"---DPJ secretary general Yukio Hatoyama from the same AFP article.

Too soon to assume Ozawa will have to resign

"I don't think you can draw that conclusion yet," said Gerry Curtis, an expert in Japanese politics at Columbia University.

"I still find it hard to believe that a scandal, after years in which scandals have been so common, will make people say they will stick with a party and a prime minister."

Curtis also states that he believes that it will help the LDP, but will not alter the outcome.

If an agnostic can pray, I pray that he's right, especially about the ultimate outcome. It was easy to say that there wasn't much difference between the two parties until having to face the possibility of the LDP staying in power and thus ruling out any real change (I hate to use that now over-used word) for another 1,000 years.

(In my informal chats with my "focus groups---and individuals" eligible to vote, I have found a lot of disappointment. To a person, they have been suspicious about the timing or else will flatly state that the LDP is behind it. Most also believe that what Ozawa's secretary has been accused of is pretty much common practice among politicians. A least that's what my rather rag-tag group of interviewees---very carefully selected because I know them---believe.)

LIBOR +49 for Japanese banks

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s banks were charged record premiums to swap interest rates calculated in London for ones set in Tokyo as a slumping economy exacerbates concerns about the capacity of the nation’s companies to meet their obligations.

Banks were asked to pay as much as 49 basis points this week on top of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, to receive the Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate, or Tibor, for 10 years. That’s the largest gap since at least May 1999...

MM (MangaMan) Aso had no comment on the arrest of Ozawa's secretary the other evening. He said he was too busy with the economy.

Barack does a Taro

After a string of costly bailout and stimulus measures, President Obama will set a goal this week to cut the annual deficit at least in half by the end of his term, administration officials said...NYT

Has Obama gone Aso? Aso made the absurd assertion a while back that Japan would be the first country out of recession. Everyone responded by giggling. Is Obama's plan not equally giggle-worthy?

Maybe Michael Kinsley is on to something:

But even if the stimulus is a magnificent success, the money still has to be paid back. The plan of record apparently is that we keep borrowing, spending and stimulating, faster and faster, until suddenly, on some signal from heaven or Timothy Geithner, we all stop spending and start saving in recordbreaking amounts. Oh sure, that will work.

There is another way. If it's not the actual, secret plan, it will be an overwhelming temptation: Don't pay the money back. Washington Post.

Kinsley, not being an economist, does not understand the magic behind how all this works and assumes that the US may use inflation to get rid of that debt. Good luck to those---China, Japan and others---who hold it. Giggle-giggle.

[Justice Parliamentary Secretary] Hayakawa said regime change is necessary for Japan.

"What I am appealing is that whatever happens, a political realignment is necessary in order for Japanese politics to become stabilized and be well under way," he wrote [in his blog]. Japan Times.

No doubt, MangaMan and buddies are driving the last few nails in the coffin of the LDP.

I want to know...

Some 80 percent of those polled by the Kyodo survey said they expected little from Aso's government. AP via IHT

...the 20% who don't admit to expecting little from Aso's government are? Are they those who expect absolutely nothing?

1992 returns

In the early 90s, one could barely speak to a person in Japan without hearing about the end of the American Dream™. It's back.

This time, the Japan Times has published an idiotorial on the possible end of the American Dream™---whatever that is. At the same time that the US Senate is involved in a disgustingly democratic debate over President Obama's stimulus plan, the opposition in the Diet is opposing PM Aho's in order to "make the government look ineffectual."(Look ineffectual?!!!!)

The writer, whom I assume is not from the US, wrote that the American Dream™ (again, whatever that is) is "in reality everyone's dream."* It makes fat stupid Americans want to say, "Get your own damned dream and pursue it yourself." It's like having a 30-year old child who still wants to be breastfed. It's time to grow up, sweety.

*I suspect that whatever the American Dream™ is, it is not something that everyone wants. Fujiwacko Masahiko, for example, might not agree with it.

On the train home, I was feeling somewhat relieved after nearly 3 weeks of doing generally repulsive work in order to earn enough cash to delay starvation when the recession really hits Tokyo. Finally, I could see light at the end of the tunnel, even though I fear that the light may be a blazing inferno.

That pleasant feeling didn't last long, for at Roppongi station a crowd got on forcing me into a close enough to lip-lock position with a guy who was having what appeared to be severe neck spasms. His pumpkin was jerking unpredictably from one side to the next to such an extent that I was flinching for fear of a concussion.

To make the ride more pleasant, another fellow was snuggling up against me on the left and enjoying a big wad of gum. I admit a certain lack of tolerance for gum chewing etiquette in Japan, because when I was about 5 my parents, grandparents, teachers and about every other person over 6 would tell me not to chew with my mouth open and not to snap and pop gum in other people's ears. So naturally, I was not especially happy that a fifty-odd year old adult male was doing it when we were enjoying such an intimate moment.

Since I didn't know how to handle this situation the Japanese way (when I ask my Japanese friends about these sorts of things they just laugh and are not helpful at all) I had to escape somehow. I tried to recall the pretty freckle-faced lady with whom I had shared a moment of prolonged eye contact with days earlier. No luck. All I could see was the image of Shintaro "Blinky" Ishihara chewing gum and having similar neck spasms, so in desperation, I tried another line of thought before Ol' Barcode-head Fujiwara intruded too.

I started out thinking about how lucky we are to be living in a land where the government can be trusted to do what is right for the country. How nice it is to see someone take action to resolve the economic disaster that Japan is facing. After all, this time it appears that it will be much worse than the 1989-2005 Japan recession. (Yea, I mean 2005.)

I felt a bit confused though, as I don't believe that I have met a single human being, Japanese, American, Australian, New Zealander, British, or whatever (if I may refer to non-Japanese as fully human) who believes a damned word that MangaMan Aho and his merry band of old geezer retrodreamers say. Does MangaMan even believe himself?

How strange it had felt to see how folks from outside the US were so interested in President Obama's inauguration. After all, many of those folks were in Japan for the long-term and in theory the actions of the Japanese government would have a much bigger impact on their future. Even some of the most extreme idiots and liars who write editorials and columns for certain Japanese newspapers "admire" Obama. Just a day or so earlier my acquaintance in the Japanese bureaucracy had told me about an editorial* he had read that gave Obama a lot of credit for the ability to raise money as Obama had charged people $200-$2000 each to attend his inaugural speech.***

Then I tried to think a little more seriously. That was difficult after weeks of doing a job which requires a 2nd grade education and discourages---even punishes---thought, but I dimwittedly came up with something that everyone else already knew. The politicians who run this country are not going to be able to do anything to pull Japan out of its mess. The country decided decades ago to sell its soul** for access to the US market and to allow the US to provide it with a military. Nobody forced it, it was a conscious, calculated decision, and there has been no alternative seriously considered since. Despite how much the gummers who want to return to grandpa's days complain, they cannot do without foreign money or the US. And they know it.

I then realized why people are looking to a foreign country for inspiration, for there is truly no hope for the bunch running this country.

On the bright side, at least my close train buddies didn't have colds.

*He could not recall where he read it, but he thought it might have been Yomiuri.

**( 2 Feb 2009) It can be argued, as R. Taggart Murphy does (and others have) that Japan took this course because it was its best option for recovering from the devastation of WW2. That, however, does not explain or excuse continuing along the same path for 60 years.

***(5 Feb 2009)Yes, some private parties and events for VIPs are said to have cost to $2000 or more, but the speech was a public event. I specifically asked him and was told that according the article, the supposed fees were to attend the inaugural speech.