Speaking of Mama Grizzlies, I was once again puzzled by the goings on in the US. After a person who might be called a loony-bird by less politically correct, cruder folk went on a shooting spree in Tucson, the early consensus among media types and some on the far left seemed to be that Sarah Palin was somehow to blame. Apparently, her map with crosshairs targeting certain seats for takeover by Republicans caused a guy who, among other things, was upset about the improper usage of English grammar* to go on a shooting spree.

This all began a debate on the recent (?) lack of civility in US politics which---if you are so foolish as to read comments on newspaper articles/editorials---seemed to mostly be partisans blaming each other for being at least partially responsible for the shootings. Obviously, it was a political shooting, I learned, as a politician was shot.

Sarah Palin doesn't seem to be the type one would want to answer the phone at 3AM to deal with a national crisis, and many have insinuated---or outright said---that she is an idiot. Whether she is or isn't, she is much smarter than many of her opponents and the attention-seeking, tattletale media: "Mommy, mommy, Sarah stuck out her tongue!" One of the few who seem to get Palin and her affect on supporters is Frank Rich of the NYT.

In an angry time when America’s experts and elites all seem to have failed, her amateurism and liabilities are badges of honor. She has turned fallibility into a formula for success. Frank Rich, NYT

He was talking about Republican opposition to her, but it applies across the board. (His article of today concerning the shooting and aftermath is good too).

During this controversy over violence-inciting military/firearms language being over-used, ABC news reported on a Weather Bomb which was about to "explode" over the eastern USA. Back in the day, we referred to these things as winter storms, which became weather events, which became "White Armageddon 1998," or the "OMG! We're All Gonna Die Fog Event of 1999." Stay tuned for continued coverage which consists of cute reporters standing outside in the snow and commenting on how cold it is with scenes of people who can't drive in snow crashing or getting stuck. Stock scenes will do fine.

Why do I feel better informed by The Onion


Snowy Conditions Proving Hazardous For Nation's Idiots

and Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Veiled Criticism
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

and why do I wish we had Japanese versions?

End of editorial. Sorry, I mean rant. Editorials are the ones in newspapers.

*Anyone who has ever worked as a proofreader knows that if being obsessed with proper grammar is a sign of insanity, the world is doomed. Just for fun, see if you can let an error get through and then sit back and wait for the letters and e-mails. It's even more fun if you have an international readership from the US, England, Australian, New Zealand** and so on. (Must use "so on" and not "etc." etc is for use only in parentheses, but that's another fun topic which may depend on your style guide.)

**Speaking of poor English, Google spell check does not recognize "Zealand" of New Zealand as a properly spelled word.

EDITED: 5:52pm and again at 6:44 and 7:39.

Thank you for your service. Now bugger off.

Ahhh. Saturday night. A full moon. Cool, fall weather (only available in Japan). The OWWISAM (The One with Whom I Share a Mansion) in her room watching YouTube continuing a nearly 4-month war of silence. And me, having not had the sense to accept an invitation to take a trip to an onsen in Abiko, now sitting around reading the news on the Internet. Who ever said life in Tokyo was not exotic?

While not reading about things Japan, I sometimes---actually usually---read things about other weird, unscrupulous places such as the US. Really, the US is actually harder to understand than Japan even though I was born and raised there.

Reading Bob Herbert's latest column, The Way We Treat Our Troops, almost makes a wasted Saturday night worth it:

...for evidence that the United States is letting its claim to greatness, and even common decency, slip through its fingers, all you need to do is look at the way we treat our own troops...The idea that the United States is at war and hardly any of its citizens are paying attention to the terrible burden being shouldered by its men and women in uniform is beyond appalling.

...I would bring back the draft in a heartbeat. Then you wouldn’t have these wars that last a lifetime...(Careful Bob, that is gettin' mighty close to being unAmerican.) NYT

Unfortunately for Mr. Herbert and the US, this will never, ever change. Not only do we not pay for our wars---well, not right away instead we borrow from other countries---we make sure that mostly poor and lower middle class fight them while sloganeering "Support Our Troops," then assume them to be dangerous crazed nuts (and make movies and all kinds of "documentaries") when they get back.

It has become fashionable since the wars began 10 years ago to tell any veteran, "Thank you for your service." I have heard that---or actually read it in e-mails and on Facebook etc, since no American in Japan ever said it to me---but I never know how to respond. I am sure people are sincere in saying it, but I have no idea what it really means.

I once applied for a part-time job back in the US after getting out of the USAF and starting college. The fine patriot read my application saw my military service and asked, " You're not in the National Guard or anything are you?"

"No," I replied.

"Good," said the worm, "We don't need any of that shit (meaning he did not want to have to give time off for annual drills etc)*.

I would almost bet that he is now all supportive of the folks fighting in Afghanistan, as long as they stay in Afghanistan or at least not bother him with any of that military "shit."

*I did not take the job.

Blogger spell check does not accept Facebook as a properly spelled word.

Ahh, what the hell. They're all the same anyway.

You'd expect more from a congressman, but that would mean that you are a fool.

During BP hearings in the US Congress, Louisiana Congressman Joseph Cao made the observation:

...in the Asian culture we do things differently. During the Samurai days, we just give you a knife and ask you to commit harakiri." CBS

Rep. Cao is Vietnamese-American.

Cao further explains how "Asian culture" works here.

(The post heading is meant to be sarcastic, not a statement of personal beliefs. I shouldn't have to add that, but experience tells me that I must.)

Speaking of health care and nutjobs

Michele Bachmann, who is running for some office in the US---I haven't bothered to check or care which:

"said she had it on good authority that in Japan the government puts people who criticize the health care system “on a list” and denies them treatment." Gail Collins, NYT

Perhaps that explains some of the problems we've had. No, not in Japan, where I must now assume that I am on a list, but in the US. We allow crazy people to run for office.

While unsuccessfully searching for the exact quote by Ms. Bakamann, I found Frank Rich's column, No One is to Blame for Anything, which is mainly about Greenspan and Rubin et al not accepting responsibility for the financial crisis [edited to add that I should add that it goes beyond that to the Pope, Tiger Woods and more]. Then I did something stupid. Something I almost never do on newspaper articles. I read the comments. I discovered:

#58 It is not in the American character to say I take responsibility because I did something wrong. In Britain, the cabinet ministers take responsibility and resign pretty routinely. In Japan, the senior officials apologize and sometimes commit suicide because they brought so much shame.

Not sure about Britain, but I am wondering in which Japan the latter occurs. Must happen a lot in that Japan for everyone talks about it. In this one, it seems senior officials deny, lie, stall, bluff, duck, and do anything but apologize until there is no other possible alternative and then maybe give some sort of murky, stylized formal apology. (Of course, some folk never get an apology. Ask the former sex slaves of WW2.) Not sure Americans would be satisfied with these apologies once they got used to them. Especially the whiny-teary-insincerey part. Suicide? Quick, name the last three senior officials who did. The last two? OK, one?

#55 As to the Catholic Church, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if the Pope was Japanese rather than German. Reminds me of...[edited for relevancy]...I don't suppose the world could expect a Japanese Pope to commit seppuku (presumably, it would be a sin) but I think we would get a sincere personal apology and a resignation.

A sincere personal apology from someone in that type of position? Oh, I'll just bet. That is about as likely as having a Japanese Pope to begin with. Should it have been a scandal at a well-respected, traditional, and conservative Japanese institution, I wonder how we'd find out about it? What domestic newspaper or or media would report such a thing?

Back to the 80s

Only it's a different country and a different dispute, but very similar to the type of rhetoric that we heard back then. This time, it is China and the US, instead of Japan and the US:

....we’ve been reasoning with China [insert 1980s Japan] for years, as its surplus ballooned, and gotten nowhere: on Sunday Wen Jiabao [insert, oh say Nakasone or later PM Miyazawa], the Chinese prime minister, declared — absurdly — that his nation’s currency is not undervalued [insert "Japan's PM declared---absurdly---that the country does not have a closed market and does not discriminate against US/foreign goods. It's because foreigners don't understand Japan and don't try hard enough. Besides, Japan cannot let some foreign products in because its consumers won't buy them and their intestines are not long enough or whatever.]... ....And Mr. Wen accused other nations of doing what China [insert Japan] actually does, seeking to weaken their currencies “just for the purposes of increasing their own exports.” Italicized portion from Paul Krugman NYT

Despite all the hot air of the time, and several attempts to right a trade imbalance with a country that did not adhere to the free market religion that the US rather absurdly seemed/seems to take as gospel, in the end it never succeeded. Nobody can deny that Japanese markets are more open than they were back then, but "free" they ain't. Japan and Japanese companies come first. Then again, name a market that is free using a definition of free that means free.

The US is now (finally) making a little more noise about China's currency manipulation and hypocrisy, but in the end, I kind of suspect it will be a lot of nudging from the US with some gradual, grudging changes by China. To me, the most interesting part about Krugman's column is his explanation on why the US need not fear China suddenly unloading all its dollar reserves:

...It’s true that if China dumped its U.S. assets the value of the dollar would fall against other major currencies, such as the euro. But that would be a good thing for the United States, since it would make our goods more competitive and reduce our trade deficit. On the other hand, it would be a bad thing for China...Paul Krugman, NYT

It's not the usual economic version of M.A.D.---Whoever shoots first, dies second---in which both countries are damaged, but seems to indicate that it would do little real harm to the US. Krugman has hinted at this in the past, but it's the first time I have seen his rational.

1600: An opposing view---(well, it is economics so no two economists agree on anything anyway)---Krugman's Reminbi Fantasy. Thanks to soma for the link.

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.

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

News Flash from Telegraph UK: US-Japan split threatened (???)

Incoming Tokyo Governments Threatens Split with US,
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo

A split is emerging between the United States and Japan over the new Tokyo government's anti-globalisation rhetoric and its threats to end a refueling agreement for US ships in support of the war in Afghanistan. Telegraph.co.uk

Mr. Ryall must know something that has been missed over the last 3 weeks since this story first came out. Unfortunately, that something is not mentioned in the story as the only thing new reported was that Hatoyama "repeated his intention to defy the US" on refueling and the contents fail to support the idiotically sensationalist headline.

Perhaps the threatened split is derived from what Makato Watanabe of Hokkaido Bunkyo University said in the article: "The US has been critical of new trends in Japan, but we are not a colony of Washington and we should be able to say what we want....[after reaffirming that the US-Japan relationship will remain most important, but that Japan will no longer be a yes man] ...this suggests to me that healthy change is taking place."

Oh my god! No longer a "yes-man". If this sort of thinking is a threat to the US-Japan relationship, then there was not much of one to begin with.

12 Sept: Joseph Nye's comments on the refueling and more are at the Japan Times.

How to become depressed.

After a year of living in what seems to be an unreal world---or at least one entirely different than I thought existed for the first 4.5 decades of my life---I thought it was becoming hard to become more cynical. I was wrong. It is not.

Read this at Armchair Asia.

As stereotypically resistant to change as the Japan is said to be, I am beginning to think that the US is just as much so*. And the "change"---LDP to DPJ---that certain folks in the US are resisting, does not really appear to be a huge, 180 degree change. Anyone paying any attention to Japan should have expected most of what the DPJ (vaguely) says it would like to do.

Over the last few weeks I have received much information about the US "alliance managers" fears of the DPJ victory and am grateful for all of it. One PDF which I can link to (and well worth reading) at NBR explains the DPJ's foreign policy visions and addresses some of the fears of the timid: Electing a New Japanese Security Policy? Examining Foreign Policy Visions within the Democratic Party of Japan.

Of course there are numerous blogs in addition to the above mentioned which have covered this much better than I could ever pretend or want to do including the ones here, here, and here**.

I am already dreaming of being lost in the sticks for several days in mid-September during which time I hope not to read, hear, nor think of anything related to the last year. I'll do fine not to meet another human being, I think. But for now, I shall try to go back to being a week behind the news...

*The US seems to be extremely resistant to changes in foreign policy, especially in NE Asia.

**Not being cynical enough has its penalties. When I first read at Shisaku that Hatoyama's CSM/NYT shortened and condensed article might mean problems with the US, I thought that it was very unlikely. Surely, nobody would either be surprised at what Hatoyama had written, or gotten their undies in a twist about such a vaguely written nuttin'.

6:39pm: I may need to clarify some points. The depressing thing at the Armchair Asia post is Jim Hoagland and his inane article. Also, when I wrote of not being cynical enough and referred to the Shisaku post, I meant that I was not cynical enough about what some in the US would stoop to regarding Hatoyama's article.

Oh, ye of little faith

After being completely gobsmacked* by the near hysterical reaction of some in the US to Yukio Hatayama's article in the CSM and the NYT (translated from Voice magazine), I was reassured to learn from a reliable source that the folks who translated it have vast experience in translating bibles and other Christian materials. I am sure that this sort of expertise would fit right in with translating a political philosophy.

I did not read the original Voice article partly because it was much longer than my self-imposed limit of 3-4 pages for this type of Japanese language article. I try to avoid self-torture and confusion if at all possible outside of paid work. Had I read it, I am sure both things would have occurred.

I had assumed---the old ass-out-of-u-and-me error---that the translation, although condensed, was generally accurate to the original. I have since heard otherwise. Regardless of the accuracy of the translation, as a friend said the reaction of some Japan experts in the US---or should we say LDP experts?--- seems to have more to do with "power politics."

*Not sure what that word means, but I like the sound of it.

The party is over? Nah, just a toilet break...pass the beer

There's been a lot of great economic news over the last few days informing us that the worst recession since the Great Depression may be coming to an end. Actually, such a disastrous recession seems to have been little more than a slight blip. Things are said to be leveling out now, and naturally the only way to go is up.

Last September, as I watched the news over the weekend that the Lehman Brothers collapsed and Merrill Lynch was purchased by the BOA, I thought the world had changed for good. For one thing, I thought that the old idea that the US could live on the credit of foreign countries while those countries depended on over-consumption by US consumers would have to end. It seems I went a bit overboard as I don't see any evidence that any country involved is preparing for such a supposedly inevitable change.

PBS Frontline just ran a program about that September weekend and what went on behind the scenes in the deal for the Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch. It reminds me of the story of JP Morgan in the 1907 Panic in which he locked a group of bankers in a room and would not let them out until they all agreed to sign an agreement to bail out Wall Street. This time, however, it was not a private banker doing the arm-twisting (or kneecap-breaking), but the US government in the person of Hank Paulson.

"If you don't get with the program and you don't sign this piece of paper, tomorrow morning you could turn on the television and see Hank Paulson talking about your bank in a negative way..."

and I'm beginning to get about enough of Paul Krugman again, who appears in the program just long enough to utter this brilliant insight:

"...[Paulson] doesn't strike me as the most reflective guy...but he must have been sitting there saying..."My god, we may be presiding over the second Great Depression..."

I can sure see why Mr. Krugman won a Noble Prize. Time to go back to the day job at the New York Times of blaming everything on earth on Little Bush. No, wait, Bush is gone. Maybe Sarah Palin.

At the end, we are assured that:

"This was one of the pivot points in American history. That old way of looking at things; that old way of puttin' on a party...It's over.

How can we tell? Other than the government running half the private sector now, and perhaps a few adjustments in financial regulations, what exactly has changed?

The program is one hour and a much better way to spend time than watching some goofy movie on WOWOW or a noisy variety show.

Who is John Roos?

While trying to catch up on some news after a week of trying not to catch up on some news, I discovered at GlobalTalk 21 that some fellow named John Roos will (might?) be the next U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Surprising as that was to me and about everyone else, at Armchair Asia I discovered that the White House appears to be in the dark on its choice of Roos too.

The cynical would suspect that Roos' main qualification for the job---if being a U.S. Ambassador requires any qualifications---is that he got folks to fork over big globs of cash to the Obama campaign as a fundraiser.

Roos is little known among U.S. and Japanese officials, raising some doubt about his qualifications. Breitbart.com

On second thought however, one of the main duties of the U.S. Ambassador to Japan seems to be to find a way to get Japan to fork over big globs of cash for various U.S. adventures which makes him a perfectly logical, nearly ideal choice. That plus the fact that he was a Silicon Valley lawyer. If he knows next to nothing about the country, it would strengthen his qualifications even more.

Glad to see yet more "change" from the (no-longer) new administration.

John Roos '80: Lawyering to Silicon Valley's Elite

Life on the funny farm

Having more money than brains, I dropped in at the Denenchofu Precce so I could buy the same product at a higher price compared to Ozeki at Okusawa or the generic Tokyu (which actually owns Precce).

I didn't need to shop around for what I wanted, for they have had the exact same products since Christ was a child. "New and improved" ain't a label one sees in the grocery store.

I walked over to the bento display and bravely risked being knocked down and trampled (politely, of course) by the lunch time crowd to get my overpriced tempura (¥50 more than Tokyu), and some spring rolls. Then I just had to grab an ice cream sandwich.

I went to the checkout---fortunately it was not yet crowded and I did not have anyone run to cut me off and get in line ahead of me like often happens (good manners, of course).

After bowing and welcoming me (I think this accounts for part of the higher price here. Can't think of much else that would), the young lady at the register began the interrogation. "Would you like dry ice included with the ice cream?" "No" says I. "Would you like the hot food in the same bag [as the ice cream]?" Huh?!

My slow feeble brain did not comprehend. I hesitated to ask for clarification, for when I have done so recently, people have suddenly switched to an incomprehensible English combined with a comical pantomime so that everyone becomes completely confused.

I decided to take a risk and ask "The hot food in the same bag as the ice cream?" She looked at me in semi-panic. Oh sh*t, I thought, now I have caused trouble. But luckily she was able to bring her brain back from holiday, say "excuse me" and grab another bag and hand it to me so that I could put my ice cream in.

But this isn't the funny farm. This is normal. The funny farm is the world of politics, both Japanese and US. I quit paying much attention to Japanese politics as soon as it became clear even to me that it is more of an exercise in theory than anything else to expect the LDP to be replaced and a real, competitive two party system to start. It may happen, but I'll wait and be shocked. Is the LDP the new Tokugawa government? Will we have to wait centuries?

As bad as Japanese politics are, the US seems to be getting even worse. Sort of a farce. A few weeks ago, the US press was all giddy over a "debate" about Rush Limbaugh!! The world in an economic crisis and we care about Limbaugh? Even Obama got in on that earlier. Uh, excuse me Barack, why are you worrying about a talk show host?

Now the US Congress has passed a special tax targeting a specific group of people who are unpopular at the moment.* What country is that? Will Senator Chucky Cheese Grassley call for them to commit suicide? Perhaps introduce a bill to have them sent to Gauntanamo and tortured? There'd be popular support. F**k any constitution/legal questions, they's the gubbermit and they can do what they want. Now I remember why I was once a libertarian who, for a short time, flirted with Ayn Rand objectivism.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to focus on the real problem first? You know, the one that has been repeatedly (and believably) called the greatest economic crisis since the Depression?

That's why I have began to avoid reading news about politics or the economy as much as possible (and thus, fewer posts on this blog). I believe that this is the most bizarre period I have ever seen.

Now, to get off the computer and the Internet before I do something stupid like read Thomas Friedman. Gonna do the least crazy thing I can today and chase birds.

* (21 March) This inanity by Congress, some of the Senate, and the entertain-em first portion of the US press is called "Perverse Cosmic Myopia" by the NYT's David Brooks.

Senator Chuck Grassley is not an idiot

....remarks made by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who demanded that American corporations adopt some of the ways of societies like Japan, where leaders — when shamed — may publicly express deep regret or commit suicide.

Mr. Grassley said public apologies by Japanese officials showed that “they accept full responsibility, and the entire society knows they accept full responsibility.” NYT article here.

If he thinks (I use the word "thinks" lightly here) that most of those public apologies mean accepting full responsibility for anything, then he is not merely an idiot, he's a mistaken idiot.

Chucky has been inhaling a bit too much pig methane, perhaps.

(What is hara-kiri referred to in the article anyway?)

Inside the meltdown

When Lehman Brothers went under last September, it was obvious that something very serious was happening. So after being concerned I then had the strange thought that there would be a few good books about that weekend coming out a 6 or so months later. Of course, I never thought that the economies of many countries would be so bad that nobody would have the extra money to buy those books.

The US Public Broadcasting System's Frontline has released the first of three video reports Inside the Meltdown: First Tremors online, and you don't have to pay for it (It is about 1 hour long.).

"Unless you act, the entire system of this country---and the world---will melt down in a matter of days." Hank Paulson during an emergency meeting with senior legislators on September 18, 2008.

Isn't history so often better to read about (or watch programs about) when it is in the past than when you have yet to live through it?

On Prisons, Can the US learn from Japan?

Somewhere along the meandering career path that led James Webb to the U.S. Senate, he found himself in the frigid interior of a Japanese prison. A journalist at the time, he was working on an article...

...Webb said the United States could learn from the Japanese prison system. In his book, A Time to Fight, he wrote that the Japanese focused less on retribution. Sentences were short, and inmates often left prison with marketable job skills. Webb said the system was modeled on philosophies pioneered by Americans, who he says have since lost their way. From the Houston Chronical.

OK. If Sen. Webb says so.

Ohhhhhhh

Until recently, I laughed when I would hear some politician in Japan (or to a lessor extent, a business leader) lecture the US or other countries about "free trade"---whatever that is.

I cannot do so anymore, as I can no longer consider such lectures hypocritical:

Democratic leaders in Congress urged the Bush administration on Saturday to consider using the $700 billion bailout for the financial system to aid distressed American automakers, in a prelude to what may become urgent negotiations over additional economic stimulus measures. New York Times

What is next? Over the last year, Starbucks has been having lower sales in the US; certainly, its stock has gone down. Perhaps it too is too big to fail. Walmart? Why wait? Why not send them several billion before they get into trouble. McDonalds? Why not? Dairy Queen, if it still exists, ought to get at least a billion or so as we don't wanna discriminate against smaller companies.

I may go back to the US and start up some sort of company, hire a few folks, and then wait for problems so that Uncle Sam can transfer tax dollars (or loans/investments of foreign origin) to me. Can I do that in Japan too? Why not? Get some US investors, start Happy Boy's English Fun Palace and Baked Beans and wait for failure---although in the eikaiwa racket it might just succeed. I won't even need a billion. A few million is enough for me.

From a near religious belief in "free trade" to---I don't know what else to call it---near socialism. There is a change coming and I don't think it has a lot to do with what President-elect Obama does or doesn't do. Of course, it could all just pass like the gasoline crisis did along with the sudden and short-lived embracing of greener energy sources.

Being as volatile as the markets have been recently, I am now wondering if Japan is actually closer to reality in the way it has set up its economy/markets? If only the US could get another country/region to depend on for exports while restricting/regulating access to its markets more than it does now...

There are times that I miss being in the US---in the autumn when the seasons change, in the winter when I miss a real winter, during some holidays---but I really feel like I am missing out on something big after the election yesterday. I rarely listen to post election victory speeches, but Obama's was worth hearing yesterday.

Like Mark Shields said on the Jim Lehrer Newshour this afternoon on BS NHK, I feel hope more than expectations, but still I wish I were there to get a full sense of what is happening. (It always amazes me that people who have never been to the US for more than a quick are able to confidently feel that they know so much about the country from reading the NYT or watching Michael Moore/Oliver Stone movies.*)

There are many reasons that Obama's election should be good for the US, but one of my favorites is that the right-wing in Japan apparently did not like Obama. Although this was not the main reason I voted for him, it gave me a special sense of pleasure knowing that in some small way I could piss them. In some small way other than being a non-Japanese living in Japan who does not fall for the pure, Innocent Japan nonsense that many of the more extreme espouse.

*Love that fact that some of these folks, Japanese and not, who explained to me such things as the US would "never elect a black man" have been proven, yet again, wrong. Hmmm. Perhaps things aren't as simple as one could be led to believe on a diet of newspaper editorials & opinion pieces. D'ya think, J? Well, try this one:

There is another paradox about the world’s view of the election of Mr. Obama: many who are quick to condemn the United States for its racist past and now congratulate it for a milestone fail to acknowledge the same problem in their own societies, and so do not see how this election could offer them any lessons about themselves.

(Of course the quote above would not in any way apply to Japan.)

Buyer's remorse? Maybe later.

Earlier this year when Obama and McCain were ahead in the primaries, I thought that this would be the best choice of presidential candidates that the US had had in well over a decade. Well over. Once the two were officially nominated and the campaign had begun the quality of the debate sank to the usual cesspool level. Obama appeared to come out on top mainly because he played calmer and steadier by mostly keeping his mouth shut. McCain seemed to set out to destroy his own reputation and image by resorting to the petty, irrelevant nonsense that Bush had used in his campaigns. (So did the Obama campaign to some extent, but they were less aggressive about it.)

Washington state finally got around to sending my absentee ballot 2 weeks ago (I hope the effort did not strain anyone there) and I finally was able to vote. I voted for Obama even though I have never voted for a Democrat for president (I take zero responsibility for Boy George as I did not vote for him either. I did not vote for a presidential candidate when the choice was between him and AlGore--good god!---and John Kerry.) There were a lot of reasons to support Obama, many of which require more of a faith that he will do what he vaguely says he will do and a hope and prayer that he is not as left-wing as his record and as some of his colleagues in congress.

I lost any belief that he was much different as a politician than any other when he decided to opt out of accepting federal campaign finance (he broke his word, i.e. he lied) and then gave his sorry excuse for doing so. Still, I have some hope that he may live up to the promise that he showed early in the campaign. Perhaps he will do well if he can avoid the extremes of some in his party.

Obama is not, any more than other politicians, a paragon. He reneged on his promise to use public funds for his general election campaign, driving a stake into the heart of the post-Watergate effort to reform the campaign finance system. He rejected McCain's invitation to hold joint town hall meetings -- opening the door to the kind of tawdry exchange of charges that we have seen. In both instances, he put his personal goals ahead of the public good -- a worrisome precedent.

But he has engendered widespread enthusiasm in a jaded and cynical public, especially among young people. And if he does not disillusion them in the years ahead, that would be a real gift to the nation. David Broder, Washington Post.

We shall see. Let's hope he does not turn out to be another Jimmy Carter, the previous worst president in the history of the universe before Bush. Perhaps he will do well. He could hardly do worse, could he?

Asia as enabler of an alcoholic US

R. Taggart Murphy has posted another article on Japan Focus concerning US indebtedness to foreign countries, most especially those in Asia with export-led economies (Japan and China are the top two):

...Like an alcoholic’s wife who furtively keeps her husband plied with booze while managing to avoid thinking about exactly what she is doing, Asia has long facilitated the U.S. addiction to drowning its problems in endless dollar cocktails. But the current crisis suggests that the days of cirrhosis of the American liver and delirium tremens are upon us. Without a clear grasp of the ways in which Asia’s economic methods have facilitated American political pathologies, without a plan to replace Asia’s reflexive reliance on exports to the United States with another economic driver, Asia too will be drawn into the economic and political maelstrom that now engulfs Washington...

Murphy predicts an end to the US being the world's engine for demand and the export-led growth (and dollar-reserve accumulation) of countries such as Japan.

Of all the huge changes which seem likely to come, there are few politicians (U.S. presidential candidates in particular) publicly speaking of them, nor is the media pressing anyone about it. In the US, the media has recently been more concerned with such serious issues as Palin's wardrobe costs. In Japan, Aso's choice of bars and restaurants is a similar priority.