Intellektual Philosofyin'

There is a fellow in the DPJ---the goofy party which we are hoping will replace the beloved goofs of the LDP---who is trying to crack open the US government/CIA/US media/BBC/E.T. conspiracy concerning Sept 11, 2001. Now I admit, when I read about this, I had just a wee bit of doubt about Yukihisa Fujita. To be blunt, I thought he was a doofus. Then a few weeks later, I read some of the readers' responses to that article and was surprised at the number of doofuses folks who agreed with him. I have no doubt that a number of them have suffered UFO abductions too.

A few days ago, I was sitting in the office with a deep-thinking buddy from Down Under. As usual the subject turned to the US and how it is just pure evil and stupidity. To avoid such things as hurt feelings and broken jaws, we don't directly trash the US. Instead, we trashed George Bush. It's gettin' a little dated now, but doing so allows people from outside the US to indirectly call Americans fat, stupid, and greedy (completely the opposite of the rest of the planet), and allows Americans to avoid any responsibility for anything by blaming it all on Bush.

I brought up the tired old subject of Republicans having no ideas for anything except to cut taxes, and my buddy agreed, "Yea, I don't mind paying taxes, how else are we gonna pay for everything!" I was a bit surprised to hear that Uncle Sam was so aggressive as to collect taxes from Australians who live in Japan, but knowing the IRS, I figured it could be true.

Then, after we went through the "think of all the wars that religion has caused" cliche, he brought up an online documentary concerning the 9/11 cover-up that he had spent 4 hours watching last weekend. Being a real documentary fan---Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, X-files---he knows and believes his documentaries.

It seems, you see, that the planes which crashed into the Pentagon and into the ground in Pennsylvania did not exist. That's why there were no traces of either found.

Having had online experience with conspiracy theorists in the past, I was reluctant to reply for to do so is like trying to wrestle an oiled fishing worm---no matter how you try to pin it, it squirts away in another direction. But after gathering up my courage, I mentioned that I recalled seeing parts of the wreckage on TV at that time. "No, they never found anything," he quickly replied.

Being even less clever than him, I tried yet again and explained that when a jet hits something head on at 600mph, the results are going to be different than when one crashes at a low angle and relatively low speed while landing and gave as an example a fighter jet crash at a steep angle. "No, they rig those with explosives to blow up so that the enemy can't get secrets." Huh? 8 years in the USAF and I had never heard such a thing nor had I seen any evidence of that at crash sites I had been to. I admired the quickness of his mind and his ability to come up with such horse dung without batting an eye.

"You gotta watch it," he excitedly told me, "it'll make you think!" It made him think, but, he admitted, not enough to actually research anything to see if an Internet documentary by a utopian* might possibly be a little suspect.

I haven't been able to get the time to watch the film yet----it's on my things-to-do list just after "finish the last 2 chapters of Fujiwara Masahiko's tome" at #567 trillion. I did, however, google a little about the conspiracy theory.

It seems that there are conflicting conspiracy theories. One side claims that there were no planes involved in the Sept 11 attacks. It was done by the gubbermint, using such things as computers in the WTC rigged to blow the buildings down and a missile, not a plane, to hit the Pentagon.

The other side, the anti-no-plane-conspiracy-theory theorists, believe that aircraft were involved and claim that the no plane theory is a distraction possibly created by the government to hide the fact that the government knew about the attacks and took no action. Bush et al wanted them to happen in order to have an excuse to go to war in the Middle East. Sorta like Roosevelt tricking Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor, knowing that it was coming, then doing nothing in order to get the US into WW2. America does that a lot. Looks like we and the rest of the world would catch on sooner or later. Perhaps my friend already has.

*According to my friend, the documentary provided a utopian solution to the world's problems.

**I first learned about the rigged WTC computers in reader responses to the article about Fujita. I stopped reading at that point. I mentioned that to my colleague as an example, I thought, of how absurd some of this stuff was. Didn't work. Apparently, he already knew the computer bomb fact.

Disclaimer: Since I was once in the military and thus a part of the military industrial complex, I may be involved in the conspiracy. Beware.

Oops! Luckily, Japan isn't considering a retaliatory strike

A false alarm was sounded in Japan Saturday when the government announced North Korea had carried out an expected rocket launch. Japan quickly rescinded the announcement but not before the report had been widely disseminated both in the country and internationally. Full VOA report.

Minoru Morita on North Korea

I'm beginning to like the old guy.

Commenting on Japan's reaction (over-reaction?) to the likely North Korea missile launch, Morita said:

"If Japan fails an intercepting attempt, it would be a serious setback for the country's defense policy, because people would think the costly missile defense system is not reliable,"...

...after taking it this far, Japan dare not actually try to intercept debris and fail and end up losing everything, including their credibility." Full story AP

Then, what would be the point?

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China and Russia are all but certain to stymie a U.S. push for new U.N. sanctions on North Korea if it fires off a rocket, leaving tighter enforcement of existing penalties a likelier outcome.

Wouldn't it be just as effective for the Security Council to threaten to throw spitballs at a photo of Kim Jong Il?

Don't go away mad, just go away

Japan needs you to help it with its rapidly aging society. Unless, of course, your presence becomes inconvenient:

Japan began offering money* Wednesday for unemployed foreigners of Japanese ancestry to go home, mostly to Brazil and Peru, to stave off what officials said posed a serious unemployment problem. Story from AP.

This way, Japan can push its unemployment problem off on other countries. A novel way to say "Thanks for your hard work. Now bugger off."

Only those immigrants from Peru or Brazil of Japanese ancestry are eligible.

*¥300,000 to workers plus ¥200,000 to each family member. Anyone accepting this "must forgo" returning to a grateful Japan.

More great news

An article at the NYT reports on Japan's attempts to boost exports and notes that the domestic market is pretty much hopeless even for Japanese producers.

In even more encouraging news:

The Japanese are also becoming poorer, relatively speaking: Japan’s income per capita, once among the top five in the world, slipped to 19th in 2007, far behind the United States and many European countries.

With this, and the idea that non-Japanese are suspect if not outright criminals that some in the government and media have, what type of people would want to come here to live and work as the population ages? And of those who, who will want to stay long term? (OK, not sure that they would be wanted long-term.*)

*2 April 09: This question was answered in the post above.

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.

Wakaranai*

"China and Japan may both be in Asia but have totally different mentalities when it comes to art," says [Art Fair Tokyo Executive Director Misa] Shin. "Japanese art has been much cheaper but the quality of the art is the most important priority."

Assuming that this is translated correctly---if it is a translation---what does that mean? Japanese art is cheaper, but the quality is higher? How does one objectively measure the quality of art? Could there be just a wee bit of arrogance here?

*I should be slapped silly for using Japanese when it is not needed (to provide original context for a translation etc), but I just had to do it since such things are all the rage now. I guess. My colleague from Colorado who admires Japan's unique four seasons (bakero) cannot utter a number in English, but instead says such things as "Yea, I paid go-man-en, dude." The use of the word "dude" tells one all he/she needs to know, but I still get a bit confused---should I reply in English or Japanese or a combination of both? If I combine the languages, which words should be in Japanese, and which should be in English? And what's the point? It's the new Latin? It's to show that I know some phrasebook Japanese? Is that impressive or what, dude? End of rant.

What a relief!

The New York Times is reporting that if North Korea launches its latest missile (we can be confident that it will) it will be taken before the UN Security Council!

There. That will show Ol' Kim Jong Il. Sort of a "Go ahead punk, make my day" threat. BAHAHAHAHAHA! April 1 is near, isn't it?

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.)

More of the same: Child abductions and Japan

Hillman dropped [his son] Sean off that evening at the home of his ex-wife, Mayumi Ogawa...

....Thirty-six weeks have passed since Hillman last saw his son and, despite court orders and felony charges filed this month against Ogawa, he's unsure if he ever will see him again...

...Hillman received a threatening e-mail from a Japanese attorney retained by Ogawa, claiming he'd face stalking charges if he attempted to contact his son...

The excuse by the robot at the Japanese Embassy:

"Japanese courts always take into consideration what the best interest of a child is with respect to each individual case..." Seattle P.I.

And, it seems, the best interest of the child is always to remain with the Japanese parent (who often become fugitives wanted by Interpol) who kidnapped him or her.

Note that Interpol's Japan page states that in Japan: "Parental abduction or a kidnapping by unknown persons in both cases are considered as kidnapping."

Oh, it's just all so confusing. Could it be that kidnapping your child from a foreign country is not considered kidnapping in Japan? Must not be as the father stated in the article that "No child has been legally or diplomatically returned to the US from Japan."

More from Interpol Japan page: No case has been known to Japanese police in which a child reported missing in Japan was taken away abroad, and so Japanese Police has not requested for the publication of a "Yellow Notice"* for a missing child until now.

However, it is necessary for Japanese Police to have a system in place which can be effectively used for the publication of, and reference to, 'Yellow Notices" in case incidents requiring such actions should happen in the future.

Does this mean Japan would change its tune were a child to be abducted by a parent in Japan and taken to a foreign country? Nah, that would be hypocritical.

*Yellow Notice: To help locate missing persons, often minors, or to help identify persons who are unable to identify themselves. (Interpol)

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.

"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.

North Korea needs attention

...at least they are not blowing up airliners or half the South Korean government anymore. At least not at present:

Two American journalists on a reporting trip to the border between China and North Korea have been detained by the North Korean military, a human rights activist and another source said Thursday. Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, were believed to have been detained by North Korean border guards Tuesday morning. Their Chinese guide, an ethnic Korean, was also detained. NYT

The North Koreans are said to have crossed the border into China to "arrest" them. Kim Jong Il, the son of a murdering sob, is visiting China.

Oh well, no surprise here.

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?)

I no longer care

Really, I don't. However, Martin Fackler has an article at the New York Times about Japan's political dynasties. Worth reading if anyone still cares about such things. I don't as I prefer to live in other fantasy worlds.

Political analysts have also thrust into public view the fact that powerful political and business families exert more control here than this proudly middle-class society likes to admit.

This has fed a fear of rising social inequalities, and the feeling that unseen barriers are preventing new talent, new ideas —literally, new blood — from entering politics, and from helping Japan find a way out of its morass. NYT

I know this place

"....everything was so special, so unique... It was like a mystical mythology that nobody could understand.” NYT

Why even body odor is magically nonexistent.

Sorry, the out-of-context, edited quote above has nothing to do with Japan, but has to do with what seems to be more and more common in the US with individuals as well as companies. "I'm a victim of a bad economy. The government (other taxpayers) should make me whole."

Back in 1991 0r 92 when I was on my first adventure living in Japan, I remember reading in the newspaper or hearing on TV some old guy complain about how the value of his home had plummeted and that the Japanese government should reimburse him for it. What a different way of thinking, I thought. It seems that as usual, I was a bit off on that.

Maybe it's due to the my USA pompous universality, but the longer I live (and especially live here) I find less and less that is truly different.

Not dead yet

The guy who writes this blog has not fallen off the edge of the earth, but has recently been having a hell of a time thinking of anything to write/complain about. Anything new, that is. Plus, I, the guy who writes this blog, have been focusing on a few other things which require actually doing something rather than sitting around bitching about things which will never change and of which I---and most other people---have no control over and which are depressing to write/think about. Doing something is much more difficult.

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.

Correction: LDP not involved in any way

That's what many LDP politicians have been saying. Generally, these fine, believable servants of themselves----oops, the public---have been saying that it is ridiculous to think that the government would be involved. A politically motivated prosecutor? Not here!

Apparently, there are many ridiculous people in this country who believe otherwise.

What a disgusting mess---the LDP more than anything that Ozawa may have done.

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.

Ain't gonna resign

and there's nothing to feel guilty about, Ozawa said in a news conference which finished about 20 minutes ago.

At least, after months of more or less nothingness, politics in Japan has become interesting again. Interesting mainly because of the fear that the LDP will once again manage to pull a rabbit out of its hat and continue its increasingly incompetent reign.

Some already claim it's all a set up and that the LDP is guilty of the same thing anyway. "Why now?" was a question I heard. I doubt that there would be a huge shock to learn that the LDP and its buddies were behind the arrest. How else could they remain in power?

A quick check of the NYT site found nothing new about Ozawa or the DJP. Apparently, this is not very big news in the US.

My god, how blind I've been

Why did I not see this coming? The move against Ozawa and the DPJ? Minoru Morita wrote in his recent book Curing Japan's American Addiction, about a list of orders that the US gives the LDP every year, and I missed this obvious connection:

Aso went to the US last week to meet with Obama. This week Aso's (and the US'?) political opponent, Ichiro Ozawa is embarrassed by the arrest of one his aides for being involved in illegal contributions from a construction company. Let's look at this calmly and rationally. A occurs, then B occurs. Therefore, B is caused by A. Now why was Aso the first foreign leader invited to the US? Obviously so that Obama could hand him The List. On The List was an order to the Japanese government to move against the DPJ lest the DPJ gets into power and throws a wrench into the special US/Japan relationship.

I hope Mr. Morita is onto this and digging up material for his next publication.

Ozawa's secretary busted?

Conspiracy theory material. Just caught the last part of a news report that the head accountant of Ozawa's fund-raising organization has been arrested on suspicion of receiving illegal campaign contributions from a company called Zenecon Nishimatsu (1150pm: Zenecon means "general contractor." So obvious, I should have known. ) An explanation from Ozawa is being demanded by many politicians.

I can't find any English reports yet, but one in Japanese is at IBC News.

8pm update: At Bloomberg in English:

The probe may damage Ozawa’s bid to oust Prime Minister Taro Aso and end the Liberal Democratic Party’s almost unbroken half-century rule. The DPJ won control of the less-powerful Upper House in July 2007 and is favored to unseat the LDP in lower-house elections that must be called by September.

“This changes everything for the DPJ,” said Tokyo-based independent political analyst Minoru Morita.* “If Aso dissolves parliament immediately, the DPJ may lose the advantage it had over the LDP.”

*Hmmm...Do I know this guy, Morita?

A Crisis of the Mind

Masaru Tamamoto of The World Policy Institute has written an Op-Ed for the NYT: Japan's Crisis of the Mind:

Recent events mark Japan’s return to the world’s stage, or at least so it seems...this suggests that Washington sees Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, as a powerful nation. If only we saw ourselves the same way.The truth is, Japan is a mess.

Some will disagree that Washington really sees Japan as a powerful nation, but nobody in his/her right mind would disagree with idea that Japan is a mess.

Conservative pundits here like to speak of this equality and sameness as being cornerstones of “Japanese” tradition. Nonsense. Throughout much of its history, Japan has had social stratification and great inequality of wealth and privilege. The “egalitarian” Japan was a creature of the 1970s, with its progressive taxation, redistribution of wealth, subsidies and the dampening of competition through regulation.

This is a key point, I think. Much of what is supposedly due to some unique Japanese tradition or culture barely predates WW2. The so-called lifetime employment, and the submissive unions would be but two examples.

Tamamoto argues that the crisis is not political, but psychological and that Japan's ability to imitate other systems has been mistaken for progress. He argues than in order for Japan to change it must take risks, and although in the last 60 some years after the end of the war the bureaucratic government (and much of society) have done everything possible to avoid risk, that risk avoidance is not a part of Japanese culture.

I'm afraid that I agree too much with what he wrote, which means it must be wrong somewhere. (He did not mention that Japan must stay safe by discriminating against others, which may rile certain Japan Times ranters from Australia. In fact, he says that Japan must get over its fear of immigration. Little hope there, I'm afraid.)

It's well worth reading if only to see what Japan could do, but likely won't.

Brrr

The first snow of the winter---at least for the Denenchofu/Okusawa/Tamagawa/Jiyugaoka area--- hit Tokyo which is about the only pleasant thing to happen so far in 2009. Unless you yearn for global warming, that is.



One could waste large portions of his/her life worrying about the LDP, the DPJ, the economy, and all that other stuff we can do nothing about, but I have about had my fill. I'd much rather be out in the weather.

Sounds good, but we'll believe it when we see it

The Democratic Party of Japan, which is likely to take power after this year’s elections, will seek an alliance with the U.S. that is less subordinate than that of the last 50 years, a senior DPJ lawmaker said. “We want to move away from U.S. dependency to a more equal alliance,” party Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. Bloomberg.

Nice talk. Nice words. Does that include moving away from dependence on the US as Japan's primary export market too? Does it mean moving away from the backdoor dependence on the US market by selling industrial equipment to third countries that make products destined for the US? Does it mean moving away from depending on the US as a guarantor of Japan's security? Equal alliance? Japan will provide equal access to its markets as it has to US markets? Equality in a security treaty? How, with Article 9?

The world awaits on pins and needles for what will likely be a huge letdown. Some will be more skeptical.

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.

Descent into an obsessive-compulsive world

Ahhh. A seat on the train that I could get without fighting for. I know that according to some fellow from Melbourne who writes articles boosting bigotry that I should do as the natives do (which ones?), but I cannot fight for a train seat. I sorta feel it is undignified for a healthy adult male---or female---to push his/her way through a waiting line and rush into a train just to grab a seat. And I am one without much dignity left; when I am finally able to leave the job that I have had off and on for way too long, I will have to shovel manure for a year to get some back.

But, at least last night I had a seat. I pulled out my copy of Fooled by Randomness in the futile hope of exercising my few remaining brain cells, when I heard a sound that sent an electric shock through my body. An open-mouth, let-it-all-blow-out sneeze. A quick check. Luckily, it was not in my direction, but the young lady standing in the aisle across from me had let one rip directly on the folks seated in front of her. Then I noticed that she was wearing a mask. Well, that was OK then, especially since I would not be getting a spittle shower from her.

Back to Fooled. Within a few seconds, we arrived at the next station. The sparsely-filled train was much quieter than the more usual sardine can train as we waited for a few more folks to get on.

Then I heard it. It was sort of a slow awakening, like noticing a leaky faucet in the middle of the night. Sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff-SNORT!!!-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff. I began to search for the source with the same morbid curiosity that people have when they pass by the scene of an accident hoping to see a mangled body.

I located him---a middle-aged guy sitting on the far end of the seat across from mine. I was strangely unable to take my eyes off of him. No, he was not attractive in the way that the freckle-faced woman I had shared a moment of eye contact with a month or so earlier was, but he was fascinating. How would he deal with his severe case of post nasal drip, I wondered. After all, if I am gonna do like the natives (which ones?) I have to learn by example.

He sniffed with every single breath. The lady sitting next to him appeared not to notice. Nobody else seemed to notice either, except for me. Good. It meant that he fit in and was a good subject to observe. He continued to sniff. How long before he uses his fingers, hand, or sleeve? He was obviously not the tissue or handkerchief type.

It wasn't long. First there was a slow wipe with the fingers of the right hand. That wasn't enough, as the sniffing continued. A moment later, the left hand went up. The sniffing did not stop nor slow.

This got me to thinking. I'd seen young guys with similar nose trouble, who while talking to young women, take a big head-clearing 93 decibel snort. The young ladies appeared to take it in stride. I've even seen the singer (and talented actor) Kim Taku do sort of a cool, manly snort on a TV drama. Perhaps the babes like it.

Hmmm. Had I missed my chance with the beautiful freckle-faced lady of a month ago when we made and held eye contact on a crowded train? The sort of eye contact that one does not normally make in Tokyo? I must admit, I hadn't known what to do at the time. Had I been in the States, perhaps just a smile would have been fine, and the world would have gone on as usual. But no, Japan is special. What if I had, while staring deep into her pretty eyes, taken a deep, studly, phlegm-clearing snort? Would the evening have turned out differently? Would I have finally been able to enjoy a mid-life fling with a cute younger gal?

No, I had to come back to reality. Perhaps I cannot always do like the natives (which ones?) do after all. For my wife, being unreasonably selfish about these sorts of things, would have refused to share me with the pretty freckle-faced lady.

I got off the train at my stop trying to figure out when I had started paying so much attention to such things. When I reached my "mansion," I felt an irresistible urge to repeatedly wash my hands with scalding hot water.

A man breaks into a young woman's home

with the intent of satisfying his "abnormal sex desire" by raping her. However, he does not rape her, but abducts her to his apartment, then murders her by stabbing her in the neck, then cuts up her body and flushes parts of her down the toilet.

Later, after he is arrested, he expresses (sincere?) remorse for doing all that.

The murder itself did not meet the Supreme Court standards for a death sentence. Besides, he (only?) premeditated rape but did not actually commit it, and although the unpremeditated murder and dismemberment was "selfish and self-centered," he said that he was sorry.

Because of that expression of remorse there is hope for rehabilitation, said the judge.

There is no hope for the young lady. Story at the Asahi Shimbun/IHT.

Asahi Shinbun and a clear editorial stance

No weak-kneed, wishy-washy milk-toasts they:

But how do we end online hate? Since the Internet has become a highway for free speech, we definitely need to explore ways to regulate such "traffic" with wisdom. Asahi Shinbun

I agree. Let's start by wisely regulating newspaper ranters---err "editorialists".


19 Feb: The heads of several daily newspapers in Japan participated in a group gabfest about various things including editorials:

I feel editorials are a forum to present an accumulation of extremely deep observation: remark by the learned chat leader. Asahi

Wonder when they will start?

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?

Oh, you poor thing

Clinton's decision to visit Japan first has lifted -- at least a bit -- those clouds of self-doubts. "The fact that Secretary Clinton is making her first foreign trip to Japan is in itself an important and welcome message," said Takeshi Akamatsu, a spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We still have the memories of Bill Clinton flying over us." Washington Post

Let's hope we can get over it now. I doubt it though.

Below is a post about Nakagawa Shoichi's remarks concerning the recent (and, unfortunately, entirely predictable) moves toward open protectionism by the US Congress. He was right in those comments, but he seems to have been a little less on target at other times during the G7 as observed (sorry) at Observing Japan. Are there any surprises left? I actually feel sorry for the man. What kind of idiots on his staff allowed that to take place?

Speaking of Observing Japan, Tobias Harris blog post is featured in an article by Andrew Dewitt/Tobias Harris: Japan's Twenty Year Response to Economic Crisis. (23 Feb, Sorry, I forgot to link to that at Japan Focus)

And speaking of blogs, the world's most succinct summary of Japan's governance is at Shisaku (where Nakagawa's performance is also covered). Fifty years of Boy George...

The scary part is yet to come

Japan’s economy shrank at an annual 12.7 percent pace last quarter, the most since the 1974 oil shock, amid an unprecedented collapse in exports and production.

...“The economy is in terrible shape and the scary part is that we’re likely to see a similar drop this quarter,” said Seiji Adachi, a senior economist at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo. “All we can do is wait for overseas demand to pick up.”

...Japan has become more dependent on exports for its growth over the past decade... Bloomberg

Where is my ¥12000 (or is it ¥20,000)? I'd put an end to this mess if I had it.

One can always hope

Some believe that China on the rise is by definition an adversary,” she said at the Asia Society in New York on the eve of a trip to China and other Asian countries. “To the contrary, we believe the United States and China benefit from, and contribute to, each other’s successes.” NYT

Now if only this can be worked out in a way that Japan does not act like a jilted lover.

Mrs. Clinton said that in Japan she would meet with families of people abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, addressing an issue that has long agitated the Japanese, but which the United States has viewed as a distraction to talks with the North about its nuclear program.

OK, just what does this mean? Abductees will replace nuclear weapons as the main issue for the US too? Or will it be on equal ground? Or what?

It all sounds good, anyway.

Shoot me. Please, just shoot me.

"I've been to 38 countries around the world, but there's no other country like Japan that has such dynamic seasonal changes. It's incredible. I'm not exaggerating and it really is fantastic," 74-year-old Hymas said in a recent interview in Tokyo.

A resident in Japan since 1974, Hymas said that his more than 40-year love affair with landscapes of rural Japan, which are distinctive in every season [Is this not usual in temperate climates everywhere? WTF?], led him to nearly every corner of this country.

...his current nature phase marks "a huge departure from my earlier work as a professional acrobat," as he put it. Asahi Shinbun (English) Maybe that explains something? Old noggin injury, perhaps?

I must be living in another world.

.

Adminstative PIA

I am no longer able to access my old e-mail (spam-collection point?) account from this site, and I have given up trying. I recently set up a new e-mail account on my profile.

(16 Feb 09 Maybe it will work...I am having occasional problems with opening the new account too!?)

...the Japanese first tried many of the same remedies that the Bush administration tried and the Obama administration is trying — ultra-low interest rates, fiscal stimulus and ineffective cash infusions, among other things. The Japanese even tried to tap private capital to buy some of the bad assets from banks, as Mr. Geithner proposed.

One reason Japan’s leaders were so ineffectual for so long was their fear of stoking public outrage. With each act of the bailout, anger grew, making politicians more reluctant to force real reform, which only delayed the day of reckoning and increased the ultimate price tag. NYT

Evil Protectionism

On first glance, Finanace Minister Nakagawa's remarks might tempt sarcastic comments of "hypocricy." However, after reading the article and despite increasing misgivings about mythical free trade (if free means "free"), it is difficult to disagree with him:

"For the US, Europe and other countries that sought liberalisation from Japan to run to protectionism is an absolute evil," Nakagawa told reporters before leaving for the G7 meeting in Rome....

..."While protectionism may be good for a single country, it is negative for the entire world. Japan would like to make concrete proposals" to prevent a trend of favouring domestic industries, said Nakagawa. AFP

Poor salespeople?

I may be the last person to learn about this, but since it is one of the most blogged stories from The Japan Times site:

Although Japan is the leader in technology, unfortunately we are not very good at sales. For example, H-IIA is Japan's primary space-launch vehicle, the most reliable rocket on earth — or, I should say, in orbit — with 93 percent of all launches successful, (Based on how many?) yet we are basically producing it for domestic use. Japan Times.

Minister Noda may have used just a bit more puffery in the same interview by describing how Japan has the world's most accurate lunar explorer. Great. Amazing in fact. Based on how many flights? Let me guess---one? (14 Feb: There were 3 satellites on the Kaguya mission.)

Perhaps things have changed for the H-IIA since 2005:

Japan's H-II program has been a showcase effort for the country's commercial launches, but high costs and a sub-par launch record have slowed it. Counting the initial H-II and redesigned H-IIA, the vehicle has had three failures in 14 launches, a 79% success record. By JAXA's calculations, its U.S. competitor, the Boeing Delta, has a 94% liftoff success rate and the European Ariane, a 93% launch success record. JAXA's senior managers say it will take 10-20 straight successes before they can gain the trust of the international launch community. Nineteen of 20 H-IIA launches would give the H-IIA a 95% success rate that would make it globally competitive, they say. Aviation Week. (Uh-oh. 95% would make it globally competitive. Isn't 79% less than 95% even in Japan?)

Oh, they have improved though:

Since the seventh launch in February 2005, the H-IIA launch vehicle has recorded eight consecutive successful launches, a success rate equal to those of LSPs in Europe and the U.S. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries News. (What, 8 successful launches in a row? 13 of 14? Hmmm. I don't know, but I do wonder if US and Europe have a larger number of launches to base their rates on? If so, would their statistics be more reliable?)

Yankee Liars!:

"This launch signifies Boeing's continued commitment to provide our commercial customers with the Delta II vehicle, which has a 98.5 percent launch success rate," said Ken Heinly, director of Boeing's Launch Products & Services and Boeing Launch Services president. Boeing

All Delta Rockets:

There have been over 300 Delta rockets launched, with a 95% success rate. Warning! From Wikipedia

You can calculate the overall Delta (all models) success rate since 1960 for yourself at Boeing's site if you've no life. I have none, so I did a quick count: 336 launches to date with 15 failures---a success rate of 95.5%. Oops. In topsy-turvy Japan, maybe success rates are calculated differently?

Just a few years ago, when these rockets seemed to explode and fall from the sky about every other launch, I used to have fun with some friends whom I could normally joke with. I'd say, "Do you know the difference between a Chinese rocket and a Japanese rocket (China was being quite successful at launches at the time)?

Then I'd take a pencil and blast it off straight up and say "Chinese rocket." Next I would take the same pencil, blast it off, wobble it around before moving it in circles and dropping it to the ground and say "Japanese rocket." They never saw the humor. Even my Commie wife hated it. So I did it more often. Childish, I know. But fun.

Well, good luck with those sales Ms. Noda. Some people will believe anything. I bought a Mac, after all.

Oh, and kudos to the reporter Judit Kawaguchi for such a hard-nosed report. No puff piece there. I wonder---was this interview in the form of submitted written questions and replies?

[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.

It's better to go out and "stimulate" the economy than to read this...

at least you have some control over that.

Noah Smith has written a thought-provoking post for Observing Japan in which he explains how the system that allowed certain countries accumulating huge trade surpluses and exporting capital while requiring others to accumulate trade deficits and to import capital is under severe strain (to say the least) and discusses possible consequences for Japan. It is not easy reading for anyone who lives here.*

Frankly, not only is Japan not considering---at least publicly---how it will operate in what seems like a new global economy, there isn't much evidence that the US (or any other government) is either.

*The Far Eastern Economic Review article Mr. Smith linked to is interesting reading too as it looks at the problem as it relates to China and compares the global payment imbalances of today with those of the years immediately preceding the Great Depression.

A quote from that FEER article:

"This cannot work for long. The proper place for new demand to originate is, as in the 1930s, in trade-surplus countries. They should be engaged in expanding demand, not expanding supply."

Are we not in deep natto?

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?

Tax yen at work

I don't really get it, anyway. In this Ministry if Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries clip, they acknowledge that it is impossible for Japan to grow the food it requires. It then suggests that folks eat more domestically grown food to address the problem.

It also recommends that farmers become more efficient, but they did not suggest doing it by consolidating small part-timer farms into large, efficient farms. Maybe they should have recommended that farmers use magic seeds too.

Kinda tough to tell folks to eat more purely domestic foods in a severe recession unless the price of those foods come down. Doesn't this mean that the domestic rice market is protected all for naught since folks apparently ain't eating all that over-priced rice?

Article at Japan Focus.

The only consistently worthwhile column in the Japan Times

...the lonely venom that somehow poisons every expatriate. By selecting this world, I have relinquished hold on the other. I miss the high points, I miss the low points, and I miss the all-important in-between points. And no amount of phone calls, E-mail or occasional journeys back can make up the difference...Thomas Dillon, Japan Times

What's the problem?

If this is true and racial discrimination has occured, I fail to see anything wrong with it. After all, according to a couple of fellows who write columns for the Japan Times, there is no problem with Japanese discriminating against others:

Mitsui & Co., ... have been accused in a lawsuit of discriminating against non-Asian employees by denying them equal pay and promotional opportunities.

"Mitsui USA and Mitsui Japan have a strict policy requiring that the top positions and virtually any position managing personnel at the company be filled by the all Japanese/Asian staff," according to the complaint. Japan Times.

Anyway, I know that this sort of thing could not possibly be true. I mean, it would be so unlike a Japanese organization to have such a policy. Unimaginable. The suit is in the US too, where everyone selfishly sues over every little thing.

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.

A little birdy said

that a certain large US bank that has received US taxpayer funds and which has operations in Japan has of its own initiative set caps on the salaries of certain higher level managers/executives. Many of these folk feel that their expertise is not being properly rewarded and so they are moving to some European banks that are offering more bucks. They can then perform miracles for Europe and European taxpayers too.

The little birdy is usually quite accurate on bank/finance-related topics.

Fantasies past

From a 1987 article. Oh, the memories of that era:

In 1984 the university's graduate school of business administration began offering a master of business administration degree combined with a master of arts degree in Asian studies. The aim was to fill a gap: Too few American college graduates can speak Japanese as well as offer a solid business background...

During the three-year program, the participants study not only the Japanese language but also the culture and the economic and political history of Japan, in addition to completing the requirements for an M.B.A. program. Six months are spent in Japan, working for a Japanese company and completing a master's thesis.

''We got back from Tokyo on Dec. 9,'' he added. ''We knew enough of the language to continue studying it there, and we got to the point that we could get around Tokyo easily.'' (JLPT 3?)

''I chose it because of claims that the equipment market is closed and I was skeptical,''...for example, that too many American companies have been slow in printing good instructions for equipment in Japanese...

...He found a difference between American and Japanese customers. Americans were satisfied as long as a product functioned properly, he said, but added that ''the Japanese users tore it apart and wanted to know what made it work.''(Wonder why?) NYT Archives 1987.

It seems that any time that the media starts proclaiming that there is a need for more university students to become proficient in a certain field it is time to avoid that field. Even if there should turn out to be a real need for the expertise---in this case there was not---by the time anyone graduates, there will be about 2 zillion other fools who fell for the same line and apply for the 37 real openings. Another fool won't be needed.

Let's see, in the 80s, there was a big future demand for people with knowledge of Japan and who could also speak Japanese, for lack of familiarity with Japanese language and culture was the reason that US (and other country's) companies had a hard time penetrating the Japanese market. It was all a misunderstanding on the part of stupid, arrogant, ill-mannered, and pushy foreigners. (Of course since many believe that non-Japanese cannot really understand Japan's uniquely unique, deeply mysterious culture, we should have questioned the point of wasting time studying it. Ask Edward Seidensticker.* )

In the late 90s in the US, the press was clamoring for the need for new IT professional. Then the Internet bubble burst, and suddenly there wasn't such a need. At least that field has recovered, mostly because it was a field in which a large number of people with expertise was and is and will be needed. Unlike Japanese Studies.

What will be the next hot field? Tax law specialists to help those who make US tax law pay their own taxes? Going nowhere.

*Seidensticker was a well-know Japanese-English translator, known for his translation of The Tale of Genji and Snow Country, among others. I particularly remember an incident he wrote about years ago. He was in a bar in Tokyo discussing the Tale of Genji with some of the patrons when one half-drunken sod asked him, "Yes, you translated it, but do you REALLY understand it?" implying, of course, that only a Japanese could really understand it. Seidensticker did not especially welcome that fool's comment. Edward had an attitude that many non-Japanese residents of Japan could sympathize with. Others would sympathize with the half-drunken fool and write absurd Japan Times columns defending bigotry.

I have always enjoyed reading R. T. Murphy's work, even if I occasionally have to do lot of reading and re-reading to understand it well. This, from his article Asia, and the Meltdown of American Finance at Japan Focus is very clear:

The days of export-led growth for Asia are over (at least exports outside the region – intra-regional trade is another matter provided importers in the region can be found to equal exporters – and that the final demand is in Asia; i.e., exports of parts and supplies from one Asian country to another for finished products headed for the U.S. market don’t count). As the Koreans and Thais can easily testify given their own recent traumas, the United States cannot recover from the mess it is in without more savings – another way of saying less consumption. That in turn means the U.S. after 40 years of profligacy will have to export more than it imports. For this to happen, much of the production capacity that has been steadily transferred to Asia over the last fifty years will have to be repatriated back to the United States so that Americans will have enough factories again in which to go to work to pay off the debts that their politicians and bankers so recklessly ran up. Otherwise, all those dollars Asia holds will quickly be worth very little. What, after all, is a dollar other than a claim on the output of an American? ...

...How is Asia going to wean itself from its dependence on the U.S. market? One lesson the world may finally learn from this crisis is that genuine, long-term prosperity comes not from continuously shoveling money at distant foreigners so they can keep buying your stuff ...

This seems almost intuitively right. If so, wonder what is being done to prepare for this new world? As Aso lifts Japan to be the first nation out of the global recession, I am sure he has a plan.

Whadya mean, "may be"

I hope to be resuming regular/semi-regular posts (and life) from now. Below is a post written a few days ago:

The economic outlook in Japan is very grim... Right now, Japan has the worst growth outlook in Asia. That is a surprising fact, if one recalls that this is a country presumably dusting itself off from the collapse of its own bubble nearly two decades ago. After such a long period of economic crisis, Japan should be renovated and ready to thrive. But instead, it may be in worse shape than even the US...Andrew Dewit in Japan Focus.

The US has the ability, we hope, to change direction; to pull itself up in a reasonable amount of time. One needs to chug a lot of sake to believe that Japan, especially as currently governed, has any such ability.

In the same issue of Japan Focus, K. Takahashi writes on the US using and abusing seignorage (the benefits accrued by the issuer of a currency) as "a savior". The article is most interesting for R. Taggart Murphy's response to that argument:

What Takahashi doesn't say is that this privilege has as much to do with Japan's willingness to hold dollars over the past generation as it does with policy in Washington...

...are right that American politicians and central bankers have been unable to resist the temptation to abuse what amounts to seignorage covering the whole planet...

But...does not discuss is the degree of Japanese complicity in the danger Japan now faces...

and

...the domestic political and economic ramifications of a restructuring of the Japanese economy around domestic demand were too frightening to contemplate...Full article at Japan Focus.

Could it be the time to face those fears and actually do something other than whine?

Living away from home for long periods seems to give a distorted view of what home was like. For example, since coming to Japan, I have forgotten exactly how dangerous it was there and my memories are that my hometown----if you could call it a town---was much, much, safer than ultra-safe Japan (apples and oranges, but that is acceptable when discussing Japan). Just like my wife had forgotten how safe Japan was when we lived in the States during the Japanese real estate bubble. She would lay awake at night (or have nightmares) worrying about real estate agency hiring some yakuza-connected thug to persuade her parents to sell their home by setting it on fire or running a truck through it.

This sort of distortion affects people in other ways. I find myself wearing heavier clothing than I ever would have before when the "winter" temperature drops to a frigid 50 degrees outside. I start thinking like everyone else, that this is cold weather. I have never seen an icicle in the city in Tokyo, and very, very, rarely see frost and snow is a once or twice a year rarity. (Oh, yea. Global warming. And maybe a latitude on the 35th parallel like that of the southern US states of Georgia/North Carolina?)

It ain't only me. I was talking with a guy from Chicago who told me about how cold Tokyo was. He then predicted below freezing overnight, although I knew that the unreliable weather forecast predicted 45 degrees---and they turned out to be right.

Since I am unable to tell when winter is in the only land with four seasons without a calendar, I have to refer to my own records sometimes to remember that it is winter at this time of year, not a 5-month long March.

One year ago today, the first of two snowfalls hit Tokyo. I fear that there will be none this year which, for one who enjoys winter, will just serve as an exclamation point for how things seem to be going.

There was a news report earlier about how people in China are being laid off just at (Chinese) New Year because of the recession in the US. The program, being a US news and exaggerate-if-it-has-entertainment/shock-value program, made it appear that huge numbers were being fired. This is not really shocking news, so we'll assume that it is an accurate report.

If so, one has to wonder how some countries, especially Japan and China, have allowed themselves to get in such position. China could be given a bit of a pass perhaps, since it is still a developing country and its many of its citizens are not wealthy enough to become "consumers" yet.

But Japan, despite all the old goofballs whining about foreign money and clammering for a return to the Jomon Period, has spent the last 60 years ensuring that it remains dependent on the US for both a market and a military. Developing its own market (and foreign policy) has been an afterthought thought of only after the US leaned on the retrogummers.

While the moans and whimpers are that this was all for the benefit of evil US capitalists and their dirty foreign money (the money is OK, it's the possible foreign control of money---investment---that is evil) it seems to have helped consumers too. An obvious example: Had there been no US pressure, there would have been no Uniqlo had the Japanese tradition crowd continued in their way. Or at least it would have been much more difficult to start. Remember the "Large Store Retail Law"*?

Regardless, one has to wonder what is wrong here? Countries that seem to very unhealthily dependent on the whims of the US consumer are now complaining about consumption and debt in the US. If the improbable should happen and there is a long-term change in the borrowing and spending habits of the US and consumption does fall (along with the dependence on foreign borrowing), do these folks have any alternative plans that does not consist selling of industrial goods to China so that it may produce and export products to the US? Or do they plan to mostly go back to what they've been doing for decades. Change in China seems possible, even likely. Change in Japan....

The other side of the coin is, will the US really change? Wonder where the money for the possible 1-2 trillion dollar deficit the country will face will come from? Two guesses.

* I can't find a link to anything other than extracts, but as I remember it, the Large Store Retail Law restricted stores with a floor space over a certain size from opening in an area unless several hurdles were cleared and the owners of small shops in the area agreed. Owners of small shops tend not to agree to business suicide. (A link to a very good explanation found here.)

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.

I'm special

I have a Mac. I love my Mac.

Ouch, that hurts

...We already have a country that operates on the notion that it can mass-produce the poor and force young people to join the military and go off to fight on a battlefield somewhere. That would be the US...Minoru Morita in his interesting new book, Curing Japan's American Addiction.*

and it especially hurts because it is so close to true, except only certain young people go and many of them are either poor or not far from it.

Mr. Morita has some interesting things to say in the book, but unfortunately he seems to have an extreme form of the affliction that Paul Krugman had when he was in his NYT columnist blame-every-bad-thing-in-history-on-George Bush mode (before Paul won his Nobel Prize). Morita, however, blames everything wrong with Japan on Bush, Koizumi, and---naturally and most especially---the US.


Life in the shadows, the result of a vast US conspiracy by Bush, Koizumi, the LDP, and evil, evil, yes we do mean EVIL foreign money.

*Available in exchange for your evil foreign money at Amazon.com or for pure Japanese yen at Amazon Japan.

MacP*ssed and more

Posts will continue to be very few (if any) for the next few weeks due to several unexpected and less than enjoyable events---including being MacScrewed by my brand new "It just works (occasionally)" Mac which cannot stay connected to the Internet. My MacFan MacBuddies have all become unavailable since I bought the fine piece of MacCrap and began to fight with it in what little free time I have had in the last week. After a very perceptive "It shouldn't be doing that," I get a quick wave goodbye and a departing "take it to the Apple store and let them deal with it." Carry a desktop to Ginza? Guess I'll have to carry my whole LAN setup too. Hope they know more than all the folks in a similar mess who are posting on the Apple Support Forums.

But before I return to the usual nasty, nasty workweek tomorrow, a quick (?) post.

First, from the New York Times:

...a group of former prostitutes in South Korea have accused some of their country’s former leaders of a different kind of abuse: encouraging them to have sex with the American soldiers who protected South Korea from North Korea. They also accuse past South Korean governments, and the United States military, of taking a direct hand in the sex trade from the 1960s through the 1980s, working together to build a testing and treatment system to ensure that prostitutes were disease-free for American troops...

That story rings very true. I was a military policeman---the USAF version, Security Police---in South Korea. I don't remember any "raids" to check the VD status of the so-called"hostesses" (I was not on "town patrol"), but I do know that they had to have a number to check so that they could be identified should they transmit an STD. They were supposed to have it on their bra. This was a well-known fact, and if I recall correctly, everyone was informed of it their first week in country during in-processing. The US military was very aware of all this, and it is impossible to believe that the ROK government was not actively involved in the whole process. South Korea was not even close to being a democracy at the time.

Next, on the blog, Observing Japan, Noah Smith has been guest blogging for Tobias Harris. Yesterday, Mr. Smith posted his views on productivity versus working hours in Japan.

We know about the long hours most full-time employees work in Japan, but that does not necessarily mean that everyone is actually working all those hours. In the early 90s, I lived in Toyama City and worked for a small factory that produced heavy machinery for cutting marble. I can't really say what my job was exactly other than being the token Caucasian, except that I was supposed to handle the rare English language telephone inquiry as well as proofread and rewrite various documents and pamphlets.

When I first started, I would get an assignment first thing in the morning that would take about two hours to complete. As soon as I was done and wanted something else to do, there was much confusion and the sound of air being sucked through teeth. That two or three hours of work was supposed to take me all day.

I soon learned the game, and began to make sure that I took all day to complete my assigned 2-3 hours of work. In the rare case that something else came up, I was able to finish quickly (after properly pretending that I was under pressure to do so) and go to the new task.

I was lucky enough to be able to help the guys on the shop floor too, especially when they went to another factory to repair machines there---something they often did, even though they may not have made the machines. When there was work to do, people got very serious and and didn't play around. However, when faced with 4 hours of work and 8 hours of time, they were exceptionally skilled actors. By that I mean that they could not fool anyone into believing they they were actually working hard, but they could act like they were working.

I remember once when I was working with them, we ran out of work to do about an hour or so before official quitting time. We had 4-5 guys and about 50 small screw heads to paint on one of the machines that we were building, so we all got small paintbrushes and some paint and proceeded to take the next hour to do what one man could have done by himself in half that time. I went home afterward, being the guy who was not really an employee, but just someone working there to "have good memories," while most of the others stayed. I have no idea how they faked working for the rest of the evening.

I think I could write a book about similar things that I have seen, or heard of, or been involved in since I returned to Japan nearly 10 years ago. I have a fairly well-paying part-time job from spring through fall that I got after watching a guy take one full week of 8 hour days to paint the stairs and walkways of a 3 story apartment building, even though it should have taken no more than 2 days. Some people do work very hard at real work for idiotically long hours. Others pretend to do so.

Japan's productivity has been behind that of the US in most areas in most years except for perhaps a short period during the bubble years. I am personally so used to working at what would have been considered a snail's pace at any job I had in the US, that it would be a huge adjustment to work at a US company again. That is not meant to imply that everyone is a hard or productive worker in the US.

I hope to be able to post a few more times over the next few weeks, but as mentioned there will be very few.

Embarrassing the government

Tetsushi Sakamoto, the vice minister for internal affairs and a lawmaker from Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, on Tuesday apologised for his comments about homeless people who spent the New Year's period in a Tokyo park.

...He had said Monday: "I wonder if those people really have the willingness to work."

He suggested that volunteers who offered the homeless tents and free meals during New Year's, Japan's most important holiday, had political intentions to embarrass the government...From AFP here.

Why would the volunteers need to embarrass the government? It seems to be doing an outstanding job of that on its own.



With that, this blog goes on hiatus. It should be back soon.

"First, define democracy. Then, using your definition of democracy, explain whether Japan is or is not a democracy."

That was one of the essay questions on the final exam in a Politics of Japan course I took in university. I, and everyone else, was prepared for the latter part, but the first part was a shock. I assumed that I knew what a democracy was, but I quickly discovered that I did not. To this day, I am not sure I can define just what democracy means.

I did pass the test. Did very well on it, in fact, but that was due to my answer on the second part. Commenting my definition of democracy, the professor wrote, "Do you mean like China?"

...now we have 2 million registered foreigners, and one in every 30 babies born here has at least one foreign parent. We are in the midst of globalization whether we like it or not," Haku said. "We have to discuss very seriously how we should involve foreign residents in building our society."...Shinkun Haku, DPJ. Full article at The Japan Times.

Ten things Japan does best.

April 1 comes early

President-elect Barack Obama can explode the fear among world leaders that he is a closet protectionist by making his flagship foray into international trade waters the U.S./Japan FTA...

...the recently negotiated agreement between the U.S. and South Korea sent a jolt throughout Japan similar to the shock they received over NAFTA. (Huh? I missed this "jolt" entirely. Was the NAFTA jolt as unnoticeable too?)

...if she [Japan] wants to compete with China for political and economic influence, she will encourage the creation of "Amerippon." Oh. My. God. This is why folks should just say "no" to drugs.

...it will take political leadership in Washington for the Japanese to create the political will to overcome their obstacles. On second thought, maybe mind-altering substances could actually help university professors who were once diplomats and who now write Op-Ed pieces. Or at least do a little bit more research.

The Free Trade Agreement with Japan can serve our economic, military, diplomatic and core values in one fell swoop. Full article here at the Washington Times. (Originally written for The Onion?)

I must be missing something here. Need more time off.