Hillary comes out in support of the 2nd Amendment, and Japan

comes out in opposition of protectionism. I expect Hillary to start telling us of her NRA life membership dating from her combat tour in Bosnia, and Japan to start claiming that free trade is something uniquely Japanese and that only the Japanese can understand it.

Japan expressed hope Saturday that the International Monetary Fund will play a more active role in monitoring the movements of sovereign wealth funds because such an involvement of the international body would help minimize "protectionism" in countries receiving their investment.

....SWFs becoming large shareholders in financial institutions in major economic powers could raise concern about the control of the financial industry by those funds and lead to protectionist moves, such as restricting their investment, in those countries. Japan Times.

Fukuda's party, the LDP, is considering starting a sovereign fund in Japan and is concerned . Some people are likely to be laughing and giggling at the idea of Japan complaining about restrictions on foreign investment, but this is serious. It means that it is bad if other countries restrict Japanese investment, but not if Japan restricts foreign investment in Japan. Japan, you see is special and unique. There is nothing hypocritical about it.

Nor is there anything hypocritical about Hillary calling Obama patronizing.

Japan's sudden concerns about protectionism is nicely addressed on Japan Economy & News Blog.