DPJ's Maehara shows himself to be an intellectual dupe; surges in polls

Japan Bashing, the term created by an American lackey and lobbyist for the Japanese government, Robert C. Angel in the 80s has made a comeback in the DPJ with Transport Minister Seiji Maeha:

"Should there be any Japan-bashing, that would not be positive for the American economy either," he said, referring to a possible extreme backlash against Japanese manufacturers, which he said had been avoided so far. Japan Times

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I [Robert C. Angel]hoped to be able to discredit those most effective critics by lumping them together with the people who weren't informed and who as critics were an embarrassment to everybody else."...

...Angel, who says he is now embarrassed by his triumph, commented, "I view that modest public relations success with some shame and disappointment." And added, "Those people who use (the term) have the distinction of being my intellectual dupes." Wikipedia

In other unrelated news, PM Hatoyama's support has dropped to 20.7%, according to the JT.

Edited to add, knowing fully well this has nothing to do with the intellectual dupe's "Japan Bashing" theory:

Seiji Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, surged into second with 10.6 percent. Maehara, who is in an anti-Ozawa group within the DPJ, had just 4.9 percent support in the previous poll. Same JT article as directly above.

I sincerely apologize for being unfair to the dupe.

Why must I edit html to get blogger to format, to use the correct font, and to do about anything else? And even when I do, it ignores what I enter?

Consumer (non)protection

From March 6 NYT article:

Her car surged forward nearly 3,000 feet before slamming into a Mercedes Benz and a taxi, injuring drivers in both those vehicles...

As shaken as she was by the accident, Mrs. Sakai says she was even more surprised by what happened after. She says that Toyota — from her dealer to headquarters — has not responded to her inquiries, and Japanese authorities have been indifferent to her concerns as a consumer.

Mrs. Sakai says the Tokyo Metropolitan Police urged her to sign a statement saying that she pressed the accelerator by mistake...

...and the Koban sitters would not return her car unless she did. They are now claiming it was all a misunderstanding and that they needed the car for their "investigation." All auto accidents are investigated in a "fair and transparent way," they said.

Transparent? The Tokyo Metropolitan Police? If they say so, it must be true 'cause they wouldn't lie about anything.

Later in the article a Toyota spokesfool said that the accidents related to sudden accelerations in Toyotas in Japan were not a problem with the cars.

Oh, yes. It's the stupid drivers. Apparently, Toyota has only been selling cars with this defect overseas.

The article concerns the present lack of consumer protection/rights in Japan and the until recent lack of a government consumer protection agency. Were Ralph Nader in Japan, he might been cooling his heels in the hoosegow.

One demonstration of extreme idiocy deserves another

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb: "Until the Japanese government can assure us that all of the defects are out of these vehicles, we're just not going to accept any vehicles from Japan." Referring to restrictions on U.S. beef, he said, "That's what they did with one of our industries."

Later during the hearing, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the issue "needs to be raised" and promised to bring it up with the Japanese ambassador and in a trip to Japan.* USA Today

Quite funny, but I am sure that Sen. Mike is not suggesting that because there are a number of idiots in in high places Japan that the US should emulate them any more than necessary.

This sort of thing will get the Japan as innocent-victim-of-evil-foreigners crowd all excited and provide more "evidence" for conspiracy theories. (We'll leave out the part about Japan and US beef though.)

*Gotta admit, as childish and spiteful as it is, I do get a bit of a kick out of LaHood bringing it up to the Japanese ambassador. Would love to be there.

Emotional Americans still over-reacting

I guess. What I had thought would become another exaggerated retro-80s Car War battle, seems to have died down in the States into more or less "normal" for a corporate scandal involving defective products and consumer deaths. Whereas it may not have been a coldly logical calculation of risks associated with the defective accelerators/software/electronics or whatever (which as of yet doesn't even seem to be possible in this case) the public, media, and political reaction to the whole thing seems pretty much as expected. There were a few grand-standers, some groups with other agendas other than safety, but overall, it's about what I'd expect.

However, some disagree: "I find they (American people) are overreacting, compared with recall issues triggered by American car manufacturers. Toyota reigned as No. 1 ahead of GM, so to Americans, Toyota may be a nuisance," said Daisuke Oku, a 33-year-old civil servant. Japan Times

I don't have the coldly rational view of America that Oku does, but I'd guess that he is absolutely full of it. It's just possible that listening to four people race to their death in a Toyota that does not do what a car is supposed to do correctly---stop and go---could cause a reaction. Maybe even an overreaction. However, (ad nauseam), if the same thing had happened in Japan with a foreign product, we can be sure that the media, the public, and the government would react calmly, rationally, and with no anti-foreign bias*.

Less-informed people might even suspect that listening to such an accident involving folks whom one has no real connection with (not in my group!) 10,000 miles away via a translated recording would have less impact---provided Oku or most folk in Japan had even had the opportunity to hear the audio.**

....some have criticized the Japanese media for self-censorship...(same JT article)

Well, duh. Would this be new? Could we not just assume this until evidence shows otherwise---or has there been some recent change in that the norm is not self-censorship?

The Washington Post or possibly NYT had a story yesterday, which I cannot find now, that reported that some Japan-based suppliers for Toyota were cutting ties because Toyota was squeezing them to constantly cut costs. This was apparently something new and shocking to the reporter. The fact that such a decades old common practice is new and shocking to a reporter should be shocking to his/her editors and readers.

Apparently, Toyoda made a good impression with his apology before congress (and we got to read a number of explanations about Japanese apologies, weeping, bowing and so on. It's all about culture, you know...) Good. That's hopefully another step to finding and solving the problems, and Toyota will have learned a lesson that many corporations seem to have to learn and re-learn. And the usual suspects in Japan can go back to assuming that Toyota---and Japan by extension---is just a victim with little or no responsibility. It couldn't be helped....

*Warning: sarcasm.

**I have not seen nor heard the tape broadcast on Japanese TV because I have not been able to watch much news lately, what with the ice scrubbing events (curling?) in the Olympics 25 hours per day. I have not spoken to anyone (Japanese) who has seen it or is aware of it either. That does not mean it has not been broadcast, however, for since it was a critical catalyst in initiating the investigations, any media organization which ignored played do that tape, would simply be untrustworthy incompetents or propagandists.

Unbelievable! Shocking! Flabbergasting!

This has actually been published on a major website:

Analysis of an Apology: A Japanese thing?

The apology from Toyota President Akio Toyoda is being interpreted by the U.S. media as a uniquely Japanese thing...

...The media... ...is often trying to make Japan out to be a mystical place where everyone lives by some ancient samurai--or Buddhist, take your pick--code. In short, a special, inscrutable culture that defies understanding...

...What I learned in my 10 years in Japan is that the Japanese culture is different of course but not nearly as different as unwitting Americans make it out to be...

The author, Brooke Crothers, does have the advantage of actually having lived here and knows something about the country. It sounds like the same Japan I live in and not the fantasyland version I read about so often. The world must be coming to an end.

Thank you CNET and Brooke Crothers. One of the best short articles I have read on Japan in years. A must read even if he is simply stating what anyone who lives here (or who has actual knowledge of Japan) already knows.

(He specifically mentioned the ABC news report in which it was stated that by bowing in apology it was somehow samurai-related---sort of like offering his head. Oh yes, of course. And everything I do is cowboy-related.)

Edited at 11:25 and 11:59pm

Shock and Awe

The weird, inscrutable, and mysterious Japan theories begin:

On Akio Toyoda's "apology":

Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of auto information company Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, noted that in Japan, "guilt and shame are very different things."

"He apologized for inconveniencing Toyota customers and causing them concern, but didn't actually deal with the issue of responsibility," Anwyl said. "In the U.S., for an apology to be sincere, the speaker must accept responsibility and express remorse.*" LA Times



Mr. Anwyl must have read Ruth Benedict's ancient and controversial interpretation of the Japanese, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword---which was based largely on interviews with Japanese POWs. Or perhaps he read a Berlitz guidebook on Japan. I have never understood the supposed huge difference between the two (guilt and shame), nor do I believe that it exists in such an absolute manner. Of course, I am not the first to say that...

I find this one of the most interesting controversies in years because it seems to be a complete role reversal. Now the Japanese are being accused of not apologizing, not apologizing soon enough, not apologizing correctly, not apologizing sincerely, not understanding a foreign culture, appearing cold, unfeeling, and logically dry (the latter is my accusation), all the things that Westerners---especially the US---are accused of in Japan. And it's not even connected to WW2 issues.

I can imagine the shock and confusion some folks must feel to learn that, yes, in the US and elsewhere folks apologize too, and also expect some sort of apology when they feel wronged. Sometimes, even non-Japanese must be apologized to despite the fact that you think you have not actually done anything wrong. Such a feeling is not unique to Japan. Imagine that.

*Is it different here? Is it not mostly form in both countries when corporations send out folks to "apologize?" Does anyone expect real sincerity in a corporate apology?

What goes around comes around

It was a bit of fun seeing Toyota in a hot-seat similar to those that non-Japanese companies in Japan have had to endure when caught with similar problems. But it's getting a little extreme now and the first indication of that was when Steve Wozniac of Apple was interviewed on ABC because he had experienced what he thought was software problems which caused his Toyota to suddenly surge in speed. Not that Wozniac doesn't know software, but it was just a guess, however educated, on his part.

Now there will be endless investigations, all kinds of charges and counter-charges and plenty more opportunities for sensationalist TV reports. (Can we see David Muir of ABC sit in his office, call Toyota, and get turned down for an interview? Why not, he has been doing it to banks which apparently proves something.) This is exactly I would expect if the same thing had happened here involving a foreign auto maker (except for the absurd David Muir fake reporting).

Over at Anarchy Japan, there was a post a few days ago about how the US government was being unfair about this and that it was more politics than safety. Forbes has an article* with a similar take:

The company is under unprecedented attack by the U.S. government--never has a Secretary of Transportation told Americans not to drive anyone's cars or demanded a factory shutdown. It's taking on the appearance of a vendetta...

...If its Chief Executive Akio Toyoda bowed down and licked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's shoe, it wouldn't have stopped the publicity...[especially after the tape of the fatal crash was released]

...The Toyota debacle will rub off to some degree on the reputation of all the Japanese [auto makers]...

I am of mixed emotions. On one hand this is way over-the-top and it seems obvious that Toyota is getting a little extra---and will get a lot more---because of the times and because it is a Japanese automaker. (The history of US-Japan auto wars has been anything but calm and rational for either side.) On the other hand, I have no doubt that if the shoe were on the other foot we'd be seeing the same thing here.

*It is best to read the full article to get everything in context.

7:15PM: More here