Clik here to view.
You say you want a devolution
YOU’LL SELDOM SEE it covered on the front page of newspapers or on prime time television—their game is infotainment, not issues—but the political equivalent of a civil war is raging in Japan. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Japan’s political kaleidoscope (4): Too many cooks, too many crooks, and too...
The devil’s greatest achievement was to have persuaded so many people that he doesn’t exist. - Baudelaire Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity–but don’t rule...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From the frying pan into the fire
Politicians are interested in signaling goodness, but not interested in doing good. - Roger Koppl SOME WESTERN ACADEMICS and commentators have recently wondered in print why Japan doesn’t “punch above...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Perverting the popular will
THE CONTINUING TURMOIL within the Cabinet of Japan’s ruling Democratic Party over the funding sources for their campaign pledge to provide annual subsidies to families with children threatens to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Playing hardball
IT’S NOT DIFFICULT to understand ruling party Secretary-General Ozawa Ichiro and his modus operandi. Think politics Chicago-style: bosses, brass knuckles, and enough money to float a battleship. Since...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Collapsed
THE HATOYAMA ADMINISTRATION is now dead in the water. Oh, the prime minister will still bob in to news conferences like a rubber duck in a straw hat for a few more weeks, and his party will still grind...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Japan’s political kaleidoscope (6): Heigh ho, silver lining!
The reason the left loses is, paradoxically, because of its periodic successes: once in power the mask slips, they cannot control themselves, and so the people ultimately recoil. - Michael Walsh LAST...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Maneuvering on a multicellular level
The Democratic Party is essentially the same as the Liberal Democratic Party, so they’ll be tranquil when they put up with their differences to avoid a civil war, or when they’re forcibly held in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A comedy tonite!
GOOD EVENING, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you, oh, it’s so nice to be back in town and see you all again! We’re thrilled that you could make it because we’ve got a really big show lined up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The same old song
TO CONTINUE with the theme of yesterday’s post, here’s another illustration of how the Japanese mass media is every bit as lamestream as their Anglosphere cousins. The following is an excerpt from a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The revolution in Japan
In short, the central power had taken to playing the part of an indefatigable mentor and keeping the nation in quasi-paternal tutelage. - Alexis de Tocqueville on France’s pre-revolutionary Bourbon...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Prediction
REPORTS are now circulating that LDP President Tanigaki Sadakazu is planning to introduce a no-confidence motion against the Kan Cabinet soon after 1 June. He has refrained from submitting one before...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ichigen Koji (22)
一言居士 - A person who has something to say about everything “Noda, Maehara, and Haraguchi (of the Democratic Party) are all graduates of the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, but they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Almost pointless
None of this is worth critiquing. It’s just like a comic book. It’s not possible to say that those who would leave everything up to Mr. Ozawa are “representatives of the people”. - Ishiba Shigeru,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ichigen koji (122)
一言居士 - A person who has something to say about everything I want you to visualize the face of Haraguchi Kazuhiro (Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in the Hatoyama administration). His...
View Article
