Kabukilover's past comments

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    A lot of the numerical indicators look good, so far. Japan seems to be moving again after two “lost decades.” Stocks are generally up, the yen is down, business leaders are optimistic, companies have started hiring again.

    That is old news. Today's news has the Japanese stock market going down and the yen going up. Abe, as I said before, is playing with smoke and mirrors. He is only manipulating the yen, not making any significant structural changes. The article notes that exporters are only raking in profits because of the lower yen, not because they are outselling anyone. Meanwhile the rest of us get higher prices, which means we will eventually spend less.

    Bubble or not bubble? I have yet to see anything resembling a classic bubble like the 1920's Bull Market or the 1980's Japanese Miracle (thank goodness). Abe is producing a lot of gas but no bubble. There will be an equal and opposite reaction to his antics, which will like bring about is economic hardship and his removal from office but nothing (let's hope) as horrid as the 2008 depression (um, excuse me, recession).

    Posted in: 'Abenomics' hitting consumers from all sides

  • -1

    Kabukilover

    I suspect that in a few months Abeconomics will be called "Abakaconomics. One thing is certain and that is that the 1980s are not coming back and Japan has lost much of its economic cutting edge for good. It is in the nature of things. That said, Japan still leads in automobile, camera and watch manufacture and is way ahead in toilets (the US may have Apple but we have the wash toilet, and China, the world second largest economy, has toilets that defy easy description). What Abe is doing is making a mess of a system that is not as badly off as it could be.

    Posted in: PM says 'Abenomics' is only way to spur growth in Japan

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    Abenomics ought to be called by its proper name: monitory manipulation. There are deep structure problems in the way the Japanese system works. There are vested interests in keep the status quo, however. Monitory manipulation is not even pump priming (recall the New Deal) but simply smoke and mirrors. As I write the Yen has hit the 97 to the dollar mark. The Euro is now ¥128 or so. With Abe's monitory manipulation we will probably see the rate seesaw. But you simply cannot rely on monitory manipulation forever.

    Posted in: PM says 'Abenomics' is only way to spur growth in Japan

  • 4

    Kabukilover

    This bears out something I wrote here not long ago: that as more and more people elect not to have children the more child unfriendly society becomes. This is not a problem with a few elderly people. It goes across the board. It is also not a problem limited to Japan. Read the BBC or American Yahoo and you'll see what I mean. There are now child free resorts. Restaurants now have child free sections, as does one Asian airline.

    Modern industrial urban society is seeing a reverse Malthusian trend, increased production of life's necessities and fewer people partaking in them.

    This is a society where people are atomized. The extended family is gone and there is nothing around to replace it. Urban society is expensive, cramped and uncertain. Children are useless in this world, except as expensive pets. What pleasures urban society offers are adult and individualized. The only time an increasing number of adults ever see children is when they (the children) are at their worst--namely when they are in some public place with their parents. Children screaming, crying and running around in supermarkets or restaurants only further alienate the childless from children and their parents.

    If you'll pardon an unscientific personal observation, I've found that when children are with children they tend to be calm and not offensively noisy. But with parents in a coffee shop or a supermarket, they are shriekers, bawlers, tantrum throwers and dangerous runabouts. They seem unhappy. Their parents appear to be to child-rearing what TEPCO is to nuclear safety.

    Modern urban society is not child friendly, which means that a critical mass of future taxpayers may never be born. There are remedies. A major one is immigration. Unfortunately, that remedy is not in the cards in japan, which has more of an aversion to non-Japanese than to its children.

    Posted in: Aging Japan complains over the noise of children

  • 1

    Kabukilover

    I love film cameras, mechanical watches and bicycles. But I never want to see or work on another typewriter as long as I live. Yes, those machines had their virtues. They were cheap. You could get a 50 year old typewriter for $15-$25 at a tag sale and be assured of available ribbons for it. When I broke down you could have it fixed cheaply, or you could get another used one. But working with them was such a pain. One mistake and you had to retype the whole page. And the clatter-clatter inevitably made people hate you. And then when the ribbon stared to fade you went crazy trying to change it. Computers are expensive and quickly outdated. But they save you sanity.

    Posted in: Typewriter aficionados in U.S. revisit history

  • -1

    Kabukilover

    This is not a rhetorical question. When was the last time model guns played a role in crime in Japan?

    The nice thing about model guns is that even if they are used in a crime that cannot kill anyone.

    I second E.M. I am so glad there is no NRA in Japan and no Second Amendment to terrorize us. Yes, only cops and criminals have guns. But the criminals pretty much stick to shooting each other.

    I am glad the gun nuts in this country have realistic models to play with. And those models are so realistic.

    I love antique firearms. I've been tempted to get a replica Pepperbox. But I fear my collecting proclivities will get the better of me.

    To conclude, toy guns are okay. Real guys are not okay. If you can hit the bulls eye with a plastic bb you are in every way a man for that.

    Posted in: Tokyo Marui comes to play with replica sniper rifles, pistols and grenade launchers

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    Abe is a simpleton. In essence he is printing lots of yen and flooding the market with it and tossing it into useless "public" works. Japan has been in the doldrums for 20 years (remember when Japanese-style management was all the rage and Japan was Number One?) and simply printing money to lower the price of the yen is not going to do squat. Twenty years of doldrums points to something structurally wrong with the Japanese system (Japanese style management, like Japanese schooling is not working properly). You can print money for so long and toss it into useless "Public" works (like whaling) until things end up worse than they were before.

    I cannot believe that Japan, the land that invented the wash toilet, is doomed. But after Abe gets through with his reforms it might well be.

    Posted in: Abe, Aso defend economic policies as markets settle

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    @BurakuminDes. Yeah, I hear you. Still, stuff between guys is less volatile then between men and women. There are Women Only cars and if women are groping women it has not yet hit the news.

    Posted in: Guilty and never proven innocent – every male train rider's nightmare in Japan

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    Other thoughts. Take a train with a group of friends or cohorts if possible. Also, try to travel sober. This is hard after company parties and such. In that case, do your very best to sober up before boarding or take a taxi home if it is not too far. Also, a bus could be an alternative.

    Posted in: Guilty and never proven innocent – every male train rider's nightmare in Japan

  • 1

    Kabukilover

    I am for Men Only cars as well, though I have never had this problem in all my years of commuting.

    To protect myself, I never sit next to women and avoid standing close to them. Also, I will do almost anything to avoid packed cars. Being a foreigner has its advantages I think. Predatory women assume you are a tourist and they cannot get any money off of you. But you never know.

    This is a terror every man in Japan lives with. The false victim and the false system of justice.

    Posted in: Guilty and never proven innocent – every male train rider's nightmare in Japan

  • 3

    Kabukilover

    Let me restate that Hashimoto is arguing off the point and throwing a red herring into the discussion. Whatever US GIs did here does not justify Japanese sexual slavery. Period.

    This said, let me supplement what I said about American G.I. running amok during the Occupation. According to various sources here is what happened. There were massive rapes of Japanese women by US soldiers. This was largely covered up thanks to the draconian censorship of the MacArthur regime. There were only 6 known courts-martial. Notes author Terese Svoboda: "Although both white and black soldiers were convicted of rape in both theaters during the war, only black servicemen were executed for this crime." <http://teresesvoboda.com/blackglasseslikeclarkkent/papers/rape-Ottawa-legal.pdf >

    There was apparent concern by the top brass but no great interest in stopping the mass rapes.

    Posted in: Defiant Hashimoto says U.S. troops abused women during occupation

  • 1

    Kabukilover

    Soldiers running amok is one thing, a government forcing women and girls into sexual slavery is another. The latter is what the Japanese did.

    Hashimoto is now arguing off the point having put his foot in his mouth. Grant this idiot one brownie point for admitting that Japan engaged in sexual slavery.

    Posted in: Defiant Hashimoto says U.S. troops abused women during occupation

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    The Great Depression sunk FSF. He created the Jazz Age and it died when the stock market crashed in 1929. The party was over. The flappers and philosophers were unemployed and broke. FSF tried coping with the new reality in "Babylon Revisited." But FSF was not Charlie Wales, the ex-alcohol who took one drink a day to show it had no effect on him. FSF relapsed into alcohol addiction (see "An Alcoholic Case") and into trying to bring the dead 1920s back to life in Tender is the Night. There is no way FSF could write something like The Grapes of Wrath. Lots of famous writers were suddenly forgotten in the 1930s. If only poor FSF could have lived to see his revival.

    Posted in: Fitzgerald's Hollywood ending followed sad death

  • -1

    Kabukilover

    Here is another thing (from Rolling Stone): "A May 2012 poll conducted by Republican pollster Frank Luntz revealed surprising moderation on behalf of NRA members: Three out of four believed that background checks should be completed before every gun purchase. Nearly two-thirds supported a requirement that gun owners alert police when their firearms are lost or stolen."

    <http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-nra-vs-america-20130131#ixzz2SNYvVaWl >

    In short, 3/4 of the NRA membership are more rational and more liberal than the arms industry puppets running the NRA.

    Posted in: NRA chief: We will never surrender our guns

  • 2

    Kabukilover

    Calling the Civil War "the war of Northern aggression" makes him an ipso facto traitor.

    The NRA is the biggest right-wing front group in the US. It is the enemy within.

    Posted in: NRA chief: We will never surrender our guns

  • 1

    Kabukilover

    Obama has been saying this for years. So close it and compensate the poor people who have been jailed and abused but not charged for over a decade. What a disgrace.

    Posted in: Obama can close Guantanamo

  • -1

    Kabukilover

    bam_boo, how in hell can I be an "appeasing poster" when I want Abe out of power and see the LDP as authoritarian? I have also stated that given Japan's history the end of democracy can happen here.

    Posted in: Abe's 'stealth' constitution plan raises civil rights fears

  • 17

    Kabukilover

    There are things not to worry about and things to worry about.

    The prime minister is not like the American "imperial" president. He has less power and can be out tomorrow. Furthermore, unlike the imperial Japan of old, modern Japan is a subordinate of the US. Abe is already sending up red flags in Washington and, like it or not, if there is any criticism from the US Abe will back down. When several US congressional leaders criticized Abe's stated desire to reverse the Murayama apology he shut up, or at least toned down. It is not in the US interests to see Asia's model democracy go authoritarian or to cause conflicts with neighboring countries.

    On the other hand it can happen. There have been democracies that have gone authoritarian. Iran. Chile. Argentina. The latter two have come back and Iran has sort of come back, no thanks the Islamists. The point is that democracies can and have become authoritarian. Also remember that for most of its time Japan was not democratic. And Abe longs for those times, as does much of the LDP.

    Something else to worry about. The US has wanted Japan to fully militarize for decades and would love to see Article 9 killed off, even if it means the LDP will make the Constitution less democratic in the process. One also has much to fear of an extra-strength military. The Navy and the Army got Japan into trouble back in the 1930s, those the road to that hell was paved back in the Meiji Era.

    All things considered, the sooner we are rid of Abe as prime minister the better.

    Posted in: Abe's 'stealth' constitution plan raises civil rights fears

  • 0

    Kabukilover

    So how do you get chickens if your bank account is frozen?

    Posted in: Nightmarish scenarios of the coming financial collapse

  • -1

    Kabukilover

    The nut jobs are the people who knowing anger Asian victims of the Japanese holocaust by visiting Yaskuni. It is not just the war criminals enshrined there but the entire imperialism-justifying mentality of the place that makes it vile. Imagine a church in Germany that enshrined Nazi war criminals and justified the Hitler regime.

    Posted in: 2 ministers visit Yasukuni shrine

View all