JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Hikozaemon
How can people say that Kan didn't sell out to bureaucrats? He was owned by the Finance Ministry, and is backing pro-Nuclear Noda to replace him, just because the guy supports his Finance Ministry technocrat agenda to raise sales tax.
This has a lot to do why a reasonably well liked guy ended up with a 16% approval rating.
Posted in: Kan resigns; says he did all he could, given difficulties he faced
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Hikozaemon
Just as a postscript, to his credit, in over 10 years of Japan Today, I don't think I've ever seen a Japanese PM even half as popular. Even Koizumi was despised by a majority of commenters here. He certainly deserves credit for being able to have popular appeal with people outside Japan at least - if only he could have done half as well within Japan.
Peace
Posted in: Kan resigns; says he did all he could, given difficulties he faced
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Hikozaemon
Good riddance. He's broken election promises, alienated his party, abused and ignored radiation victims and overseen an increasingly mishandled disaster recovery. The biggest disappointment is how, as a guy who has a track record of fighting on issues of social justice and against bureaucratic control of Japan, he basically sold out completely to the Finance Ministry and reversed most of the DPJ manifesto he helped create that got most of his party members elected. He ended up being another ministry agenda stooge, which shows to me that the job changed him. I used to think he was a good guy with faults, but now... I'm just glad this is over and someone else can start trying to pick up the pieces.
I hope Maehara gets in next, and I hope he restores some competence to how the DPJ is run, and gives them a chance of surviving the next election (when they will probably lose, and the PM will change... again).
All the best to Kan and his wife/cousin.
Peace
Posted in: Kan resigns; says he did all he could, given difficulties he faced
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Hikozaemon
It's a simple point, but Ozawa is right:
DPJ was elected based on its 2009 manifesto, one of the first ever used in a Japanese election. It introduced the "radical" idea of political parties in Japan having policies and ideas of their own, and seeking a democratic mandate based on these ideas.
And the Dems won by a landslide, with a manifesto contributed to by Kan, Ozawa and everyone.
Kan started breaking manifesto promises and that is why Ozawa and Hatoyama's factions turned on him, and why the DPJ was obliterated in upper house elections last year resulting in the DPJ being unable to now pass any laws without opposition support.
DPJ led by Kan was punished by voters for breaking and failing to fulfill manifesto promises.
I don't want the DPJ to be another LDP that assumes power and does simply as it is told by the all powerful burocrats. Apart from being of below average ability as a PM generally, I was more disappointed than anything else to see Kan promoted from Finance Minister to PM, practically now owned by the Finance Ministry, at whose behest he started dismantling election promises.
And Kan is supporting Noda, his successor to the Finance Ministry and pro-nuclear, war criminal lover to replace himself, just showing how far he sold out.
I agree with Ozawa - I don't care who it is, so long as the DPJ gets back on the task of rebuilding and reshaping Japanese politics to give voters an actual say in how Japan is run, and to make lawmakers actually accountable for government policies. The successor to Kan should get the DPJ back on track to fulfilling its manifesto promises.
I don't care if it is Maehara, or other anti-Ozawa guys who do it. But the man speaketh the truth on how the DPJ can avoid being destroyed in the next election. Candidates had best listen.
Peace
Posted in: Ozawa, Hatoyama meet to discuss who to back for PM
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Hikozaemon
Ozawa was reported as saying yesterday that he thinks Maehara coming to power would cause Japan to collapse. So I guess these guys did not patch anything up - not surprising, Maehara has always been very anti-Ozawa and Ozawa takes it personally, although I'm not sure of any other specific reasons that Ozawa has for not supporting him.
Out of a terrible lineup, Maehara is far and away my choice, even though it will be miserable being the PM in the year leading up to the next election.
People shouldn't be such sheep swallowing propaganda about Ozawa - the establishment is afraid of Ozawa and his prosecution is politically motivated. The fact he scares the forces actually running Japan so much (because he actually has the power to challenge them) is why he is an important part of Japanese politics, and why he commands the support and respect of half of the DPJ.
Peace
Posted in: Maehara calls on Ozawa, Hatoyama for support
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Hikozaemon
Just-a-guy, Kan took plenty of money from Koreans, and was about to be kicked out and possibly impeached for it when the quake happened. Maehara's offense is tame by comparison, but yes, it would be used by the opposition to undermine him if he is made leader.
I like Maehara mainly because he was one of the only people in the cabinet to display a set of basket balls in response to the mafia-esque tactics of China over the drunk sea captain ramrader case in Japanese territory in Okinawa. I think he was the only guy in the cabinet who didn't act scared of China, and that is why I would love for him to be PM.
Peace
Posted in: Noda seen as frontrunner to replace Kan as PM
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Hikozaemon
Noda is Kan's guy, mainly because like Kan, Noda is basically owned by the Finance Ministry, and Noda shares Kan's agenda of dispensing with all DPJ election promises in order to raise sales tax at all cost as soon as possible. It is a sign of just how owned Kan is by the Finance Ministry that he is backing an openly pro-nuclear power guy to replace himself, and retracted his own anti-nuclear statements when contradicted by Noda.
Never mind the fact that nobody likes him.
I prefer Maehara myself, even though he is as rabidly anti-Ozawa as Kan is. Also like Kan, Maehara is tainted by illegal donations, albeit in a case which shouldn't be illegal - zainichi family friends.
Nonetheless, the damage is done - the next PM is already doomed by Kan to be the DPJ's "Taro Aso", basically holding the PM job until the DPJ is slaughtered in the next house elections, which will probably come in about a year from now. From that perspective, given that the job is a ticket to political oblivion, Noda might be okay - I like Maehara and would prefer if he were to become PM, doing so in a hung parliament is the worst way to do this anyway. An observation Ozawa himself made on the news today (that basically whoever the next PM is going to be is going to be pretty much totally screwed).
Hope it's not Kaieda - after the debacle of how TEPCO and the nuclear accident has been mishandled by METI, it would be repugnant to me to see the METI minister throughout the crisis made PM.
So, yeah, I like Maehara best, but for his sake, hope he doesn't win. There again, Noda would be the icing on Kan's cake for perfecting the total betrayal of supporters of the DPJ if he get in, boosts sales tax, abandons all election pledges AND restores Japan's pre-accident nuclear policy, as seems likely.
Peace
Posted in: Noda seen as frontrunner to replace Kan as PM
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Hikozaemon
Smith - "435 cows shipped after being fed contaminated straw" is the article name.
You shrug it off and say "even if we had a different government, it would be no different?"
That is exactly what the LDP said for 60 years.
You tell me - beyond the debacle of how this nuclear crisis has been handled by Kan so far, what more could he possibly allow to happen under his watch before you would be prepared to acknowledge that this government has failed miserably in its obligation to protect the health and safety of the Japanese people?
Posted in: 435 cows shipped after being fed contaminated straw
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Hikozaemon
Kan has got to resign.
The government is just reacting to this stuff - they should not have been pretending that everything outside the evacuation zones was safe, and testing all this stuff properly to begin with.
People here keep saying let him do his job. Five months and still no government plan for allocating Red Cross donated funds and relief goods are left to rot in warehouses, kids playing in schools with radioactive playgrounds in Fukushima City, Kan refocuses on relief by appointing a guy who goes and screams abuse at the victims, and now we find out that farmers were unknowingly producing contaminated meat because the government didn't test properly enough, and the stuff is distributed and consumed all over Japan.
The whole government should step down. This starts and ends with them. They are clearly not capable of doing this in a partisan way, so form a government of national unity, get all the politics BS out, and start fixing sitting on their thumbs dumbstruck at what to do.
I'd actually even favor just handing control over to the SDF at this point. Surely there hasn't been a time in Japan's history that politics have failed Japan more than this cabinet?
Posted in: 435 cows shipped after being fed contaminated straw
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Hikozaemon
IWC needs to be reformed to only allow currently whaling nations in.
The other countries pretending to be interested in resource management of whaling are being more dishonest about their role there than Japan ever was about scientific whaling.
Posted in: Japan walkout throws whaling talks into disarray
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Hikozaemon
gogogo - if the IOC was concerned about Urban poverty, I doubt Rio could have won the right to host 2016.
To his credit, Ishihara was open about wanting to rebid, and Tokyo put him in by a landslide, so he's got all the mandate in the world he needs to engage in this very very bad idea.
Posted in: Tokyo declares bid for 2020 Summer Olympics
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Hikozaemon
Pardon me, people still go to movie theatres?
Posted in: Why do people talk, text and tweet at cinema?
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Hikozaemon
Well Ishihara said he was going to do this and Tokyo reelected him anyway.
Between the 2018 Winter Olympics already being held in Korea, and the recent food scares in Tokyo involving contamination by cesium with a half life of 25 years, this is a pre-doomed exercise in vanity by the governor.
Posted in: Tokyo declares bid for 2020 Summer Olympics
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Hikozaemon
9 days as a government minister - of a new ministry created for him to lead. This has to be some sort of new record, even by Japanese standards?
Posted in: Reconstruction minister resigns over offensive remarks; Hirano takes over
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Hikozaemon
I was just coming round on Kan holding on for a few months before this, but this has to be the last straw in terms of showing up Kan's incompetence at picking people.
Kan shouldn't wait for the budget now. He should step down and end his train wreck of an administration and give the Dems time to recover with a new cabinet before they go into the next election.
Kan picked this guy as a stunt to justified his holding onto office. To say this appointment showed poor judgment has to be an understatement. Where did they find this guy!?
Peace
Posted in: Reconstruction minister resigns over offensive remarks; Hirano takes over
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Hikozaemon
Taj - I really don't, this was mainstream news at 7 NHK stuff. It was only lead news for a day, but the party conference was a disaster. I agree - if I had the choice between Edano and Okada, I would vote Edano. But I think it will be Okada.
Behappy - it's semantics. Kan announced his resignation. These things are never instant, it will take time to find a replacement and hand over, but he is publicly committed to resigning now. Which is the right thing for saving the DPJ.
Moderator: He has not announced his resignation. Please stop posting this.
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Hikozaemon
Moonbeams - welcome to Japan!
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Hikozaemon
Taj - Ozawa won't be in full power. But he will be back in from the sidelines, which is fair, since he represents half of the DPJ.
All will be made clear by the next choice of PM. I can't see it being an Ozawa faction guy - unless Okada, Edano and Kan are so fed up that they actually WANT it to be an Ozawa guy so they can get revenge that way. Ozawa has 48% of the party, but he showed in the last party election that he doesn't have the numbers to take over the party unilaterally, in the way that Kan did.
That's why I'm almost certain that the next PM will be Okada (with Edano as a long shot possibility). And Okada HATES Ozawa. But, Okada will give Ozawa's supporters significant cabinet posts to bring them back in. And he may even revive Ozawa's policy development bureau (Ozawa breaking another rule there, actually creating an office for elected politicians to MAKE policy, instead of sit and be told what it is by administrators...).
The point is, Ozawa is demonstrating that even if you don't like him, you can't shut him out completely. Do you remember the DPJ conference where Ozawa faction people were basically shut down and hurried out when they tried asking the PM questions about why he was backtracking on election promises?
Kan has been ruling the DPJ by sticking his fingers in his ears, closing his eyes and singing loudly trying to drown out the people worried about some of his poor decisions, manifesto breaches and broken promises.
Ozawa won't be in full control of the next government, but he will be involved, and has made a clear show of force here demonstrating that Kan and Okada and his mates can't be in power without allowing him to sit at the table. Which given that he got the DPJ into power and is backed by nearly half the party, is fair enough.
Who is your pick for new PM?
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Hikozaemon
Yasukuni - not that simple. The next DPJ leader will at least need to be someone who can patch the rift in the DPJ, and reach out and win coalition partners. If Kan was capable of doing that, this drama would never have happened.
There again, we are looking at an election probably around November, and I don't think even Koizumi coming in could save the DPJ at the next election after this. It's almost certain that we will return to LDP rule at the next election.
What is important about today is that when the LDP comes back, which it will, soon, the DPJ will remain intact as a viable opposition party, and we will not be left with a 16 year vacuum of electable opposition like we were left with the last time Ozawa and Kan got into power and fell out, back in 1996.
So, you see, things are getting better.
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Hikozaemon
Nigelboy - Ozawa showed the suicide vest pretty much. Kan was gone either way - his only choice left was to preserve the party (with Ozawa and his supporters still in it) or to lose his job and see the party destroyed along with him.
He chose to save the party, which was the right choice. One of his friends will be taking over anyhow.
Credit to Kan though - he did take it to the wire, much further than Hatoyama would have gone. I guess that is true to his reputation.
So who are you picking as the replacement. My choice is Edano for popularity - the guy is a great communicator, but I get the feeling it will be taken up by Okada. Which should be hilarious because I believe he hates Ozawa even more than Kan does...
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