JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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Hikozaemon
Agreed - the quake only delayed this happening. Kan was on the verge of being forced out back in March. He's a good guy, but a completely inept politician.
It's a basic rule of democracy - you can't be the government without the support of a majority of elected representatives in parliament.
Kan actively alienated half of his OWN party. And he was crushed in the pre-quake election. The public doesn't support him, no one will form coalition with him, and half his own party doesn't have confidence in him.
This was always how it was going to end. I'm just glad to see he showed the good sense at the end to try to at least preserve the existence of the DPJ, and not drag everything into the abyss with him.
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Hikozaemon
This is not Ozawa grabbing power - quite the opposite. I don't see any outcome from this where he gets power. That's the whole point.
DPJ is a coalition of Socialists (Kan), opportunist LDP defectors, and Liberal Party members (Kan and Hatoyama). Ozawa was more responsible than anyone else within the DPJ for the election victory that got them into power. Hatoyama ensured everyone from the party was involved in decision making, and Ozawa helped negotiate coalition deals that ensured a stable majority.
When Kan got in, he decided not to share policy making with ex Liberal Party faction members, even though they make up nearly half the party. So, Ozawa and his many supporters are in government, but basically being used by Kan for numbers, but shut out from involvement.
The only outcomes that can happen today are that DPJ leadership changes and the next cabinet goes back to being one inclusive of all DPJ elements, or that Kan holds on until the confidence motion, and is dismissed by a majority in parliament, half the DPJ leaves the party, and the LDP is left as the largest party left in government, ready to try to form the next government.
The LDP will never do a coalition deal with Ozawa, so he loses by outcome 2, but I guess he figures it makes no difference putting that on the line, because as things are, he is being screwed by Kan anyway.
And if no one can see that the prosecution of Ozawa is a politically motivated stitch up, that says just how little such people are capable of understanding what is really going on here.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Well, this is already the de facto situation anyway. Kan has been trying to get by governing while shutting out half the members of the DPJ anyway, so maybe this is for the best.
My preference is that Kan leaves today and DPJ salvages itself, by forming a cabinet inclusive of all factions, like the Hatoyama cabinet did.
If Kan insists on running the DPJ with only 52% of its members, then by the end of today, that is all he will have left, and the LDP will end up as it de facto is - the biggest party left in parliament with the authority to try to form a government.
Viva la revolucion...
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Hikozaemon
Well, as we know, all of Europe is pretty much totally the same, and agrees on everything. As does Asia. Asia is really just practically one big country. So of course this is a perfect basis of comparison.
And on that comparison - I'm not so sure...
The problem is this - Is Europe Germany, or is Europe France? It has to be one or the other - otherwise this column would be an unreasoned waste of time...
Certainly, when we are talking nuclear power and Europe, France is the biggest generator and proponent. They are also the most active nuclear weapon testing power. If the EU were to have a department of nuclear energy and nuclear weapon storage, it would almost certainly have to operate in French and be run by French people, because that is where all the generators and bombs are.
Last I checked, while fringe nuclear countries like Germany, that currently have all their plants shut down anyway are a bit jittery, and Switzerland, that isn't even in the EU prefers to keep things safe for naked hikers, France is more tally-ho about nuclear power than ever. In fact, I'm quite sure they are looking forward to exporting power to Germany to make up their shortfalls. Not to mention the new power plants that the French national power company is moving ahead with building in Britain.
Which will mean that "Europe" will for now remain as nuclear as it ever was - perhaps even more so.
On the Asian side, well, people in Japan and India are all pretty much the same on this, but the large and spontaneous twitter organized anti-nuclear demonstrations in Tokyo last month were without precedent in decades that I am aware of. I've rarely seen "Asian" citizens being so politically spontaneous, except in countries like Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and PRC.
Point is, that I'm not sure that the author properly understands what Europe and Asia are thinking about this issue. I certainly hope that Asia fixes this current problem with Fukushima soon.
Peace
Posted in: Does Fukushima show a split in philosophy between Asia and Europe?
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Hikozaemon
I go through a checklist and make sure the airline isn't Northwest, United, Continental, Delta, Korean, Malaysia, or Lufthansa, and only accept Qantas in absolute emergencies.
Posted in: When choosing an airline to fly with, what factors influence your decision?
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Hikozaemon
Serrano - excellent point. I mean, NATO and the Taliban are basically just the same thing, right?
The Afghan government asks for foreign help to fight the Taliban, and the foreign fighters keep killing civilians. You don't understand why this can be slightly upsetting to the Afghan people they are there fighting to protect.
Oh, the ingratitude...
Posted in: NATO apologizes for 9 Afghan civilian deaths
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Hikozaemon
Solar is good but only on a house by house basis for hot water and so on, not cheap or efficient enough for mass generation, and too inconsistent and unreliable for Japan.
Geothermal power is cool - NZ and Iceland use it, but have also learned that over time, tapped geothermal sources lose their intensity. Still, it's a nice eco-friendly source, but not really doable on a nuclear plant scale.
Other than Hydro, wind is currently the best in terms of cost, and ability to generate large amounts of power. Downside is that the best wind resource is in Hokkaido, which is poorly connected to norhtern Honshu, which is not connected at all to the rest of Japan, so without upgrading the grid, Japan is already nearly at capacity for wind. Plus of course the fact that it is unstable as a power source and requires coal or other thermal plants to work in tandem with them to stabilize output.
Hydro is fine, cheap once running, although of course very disruptive and destructive to build.
The best potential source of renewable energy isn't on the list - it's wave energy. It is the most powerful, consistent and widespread natural energy source. The only problem is that no one has yet engineered a practical large scale wave generator able to withstand the full scope of ocean based storms and conditions. This is the technology I hope the government pumps lots of money into the research of. Japan has a huge coastline, and being able to harness the unlimited waves and currents around it would be the best hope for sustained evenly distributed natural renewable energy.
In the meantime, until the technology is there and the grid is upgraded to be able to better handle the addition of renewables, I don't care where the power comes from so long as it isn't nuclear. Fire up all the new coal and gas reactors you want, if you ask me.
Posted in: Which form of renewable energy do you think is the best alternative to nuclear energy?
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Hikozaemon
I believe that they need to get the PM of China and president of South Korea back over and make them eat MORE Fukushima produce, just to prove to everyone how safe it all is...
Posted in: Why do tourists continue to stay away from Japan, despite the fact that there are many places of interest far away from the crisis-affected areas? What should Japanese tourism officials do to promote Japan as a safe destination?
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Hikozaemon
Kan simply needs to offer up some cabinet positions to people from factions outside of his own. It wouldn't resolve his low approval ratings, and the internal dissent against his betrayal of campaign promises, but it would put a lid on outright mutiny that still remains a risk, and get everyone back on task.
The guy shouldn't be looking to start fights with 48% of his own party in a hung parliament after a disaster of this scale. Can has the power to fix things within his own party - he should stop being so stubborn treating his allies like opposition members and bring them in.
Posted in: Prime Minister Naoto Kan continues to be criticized by members of his own party and the opposition, as well as business groups for his lack of leadership during the current crisis. What more could he have done and what should he be doing? For example, should he be out of the country now, attending the G-8 summit?
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Hikozaemon
She could have tried a long overdue apology for abusive colonial rule in the name of the crown.
Posted in: Queen expresses 'deep sympathy' in speech in Ireland
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Hikozaemon
Well, Hamas has declared itself a member of team "the death of this man is unfortunate" - with many people here I see.
Posted in: Celebrations
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Hikozaemon
NambaOnigiri - how can you compare the celebration of 3,000 innocent dead in 9-11 with the death of Bin Laden?
Posted in: Celebrations
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Hikozaemon
Americans have been through a lot and waited a long time for this. Remember the celebrations. They are entitled to blow off some steam at last.
Remember Palestinians handing out sweets celebrating the innocent deaths of the victims of 9-11? People celebrating the death of one guy who deserved it bears no comparison.
Good on America for getting him.
Posted in: Celebrations
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Hikozaemon
Kan is the backstabber pulling the party to the grave - Ozawa and Hatoyama are trying their damndest to save it.
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Hikozaemon
I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply doesn't work.
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Hikozaemon
I'm all for it, so long as all the costs of inevitable nuclear accidents are factored into the cost of the power generated. If it can pay to ruin the lives of millions of people each time it overheats, and not rely on welfare handouts to exist, like it does in every country, then great.
Those nuclear power stations should be paying for every evacuated resident, and every affected farmer, fisherman, and parent the costs of relocating and setting up new lives somewhere else, not the taxpayer.
End the socialist madness that countries allow nuclear power to get away with - make it pay its own way, and compete fairly with other power sources, and fine.
Japan did without any nuclear power just fine for several months in 2002. It has already proven that it can switch away from it, if it feels the urge to. The top priority must be upgrading the grid, to create a national grid that allows better implementation of more meaningful alternatives.
Peace
Posted in: Should countries phase out nuclear power plants and look at other sources for their energy needs?
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Hikozaemon
"It is hoped that Taiga Ishikawa will soon become known for being a politician rather than the first openly gay individual to enter political office in Japan in the modern period"
Then the article goes on to rave about what a fabulous gay fella he is, and not mention even once that even what political party he ran for (SDP).
This reminds me of Tsurunen - the first naturalized caucasian MP in the Diet - foreign press got so wrapped up in that he was white (naturalized Japanese, originally a Finnish citizen) and what a step his election represented for foreign rights in Japan (as if there has never been a naturalized Chinese or Korean politician before...) when he insisted he wanted to just be a good representative.
And as it turned out, that is what he was.
I think if Taiga takes steps to further the equal rights movement, that's great, but it's patronizing to paint him as a one issue caricature. He obviously got elected based on more than just that. And congrats to him.
Peace
Posted in: Tokyo elects first openly gay politician in the history of modern Japan
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Hikozaemon
I remember watching live footage of cars racing away from the oncoming tsunami through narrow rice field roads, only to get stuck behind some car that was parked or stopped and get swallowed up. You felt helpless watching. I was thinking "just ram the car off the road" but a couple of times you saw it - five or six cars, just stopping and waiting.
I guess in the middle of broad rice fields, leaving the car wasn't a much better option.
Still, perhaps they can add this to emergency tsunami radio broadcasts - "pull over, leave your car and run to the highest possible point". I guess there are a lot of cases where this would have helped.
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Hikozaemon
Masswipe - as I said before, the best analogy we are facing in post earthquake 2011 is post earthquake 1995. The LDP, finally out of power for the first time in 40 years, a cold war relic never to return, and a time of national unity.
The Socialists (Kan's party) and the New Frontier Party (remember them?) screwed things up so badly, that a party with no vision for the future in 1955 was restored by a landslide and stayed in power for 15 years in spite of continuing its history of being a train wreck.
Maybe 50 years is an exaggeration, but we have the precedent of it taking 15 years to take Japanese politics to once again conjure up a credible second choice after seeing the previous only choice implode. If Kan continues the DPJ on the course it is on, and the DPJ continues to poll as it has in the last two nationwide elections, and consistently in national polls, we face the end of the DPJ.
And check out the LDP's ratings. It's not finished. It's picking out ties, and brushing its hair, popping a few breath mints, waiting for Kan to deliver them back to power. And it seems that the message boards here, distracted by Hatoyama and Ozawa, are cheering on the hurtling train wreck to oblivion.
On your choice for a longer leader, I can tell you I actually quite agree, Abe deserved a better shot. Bear in mind however that it is difficult to be PM while you are suffering a nervous breakdown as he did. As I recall, he was bedridden at home for months - the conspiracy theories around his demise make interesting reading about the power of media and vested interests in Japan. Although he is far and away the most right wing of the post-Koizumi PMs, he was also probably the most intelligent and most qualified to be leader. I think his case is a perfect illustration of the kinds of pressures and background issues that make it so hard for PMs to last in Japan.
Koizumi himself actually suggested while being PM that Japan should have a directly elected president (this was mainly because of how unpopular he was and how insecure he was among the political membership of the LDP - he survived by grassroots LDP support only). I quite agree that it is a good idea. Although be careful what you wish for - I guarantee you that Shinchan Ishihara would have a better than even chance of becoming Japan's first president.
Not to mention the probability of regular impeachments. But I agree and quite like the idea.
However, that isn't how things are. This is a westminster style system, run by parties and not individuals. Kan is destroying his party, which will mean no Kan and no DPJ when he goes if this continues. Under the current system, the party is more important than the man, and that is why DPJ members now think it's time for him to do the right thing for the party, and the sake of Japanese politics.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Rofea - Ozawa hasn't been with the LDP in nearly 20 years, and the current shafting he is getting is straight from the LDP - not Kan.
You're just helping the LDP.
sf2k - Kan was on his way out, and would resigned around the time of the quake if it weren't for that. The party waited to see if Japan could look past his incompetence and support the government in the recent local elections.
The Japanese people sent a clear message - under Kan, the DPJ is finished.
The DPJ has no choice but to listen.
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