JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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Confrontation
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California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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5
Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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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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taikan
helloklitty, I have two questions. First, what did former Prime Minister Mori do that entitles him to credit for the high quality of broadband service in Japan? Second, is Japan willing to send him to the US so he can work his magic again?
Posted in: For quality broadband, it's Japan by a mile
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taikan
In theory, this would be a good idea. However, almost 74% of AIG's shares are owned by financial institutions and mutual funds. Many of their shares, in turn, are owned by pension plans. That's why the government decided it couldn't allow AIG to fail.
Posted in: U.S. government bails out AIG with $85 billion loan
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taikan
And are you aware that the Republicans controlled the House and Senate from 1994-2006, and on top of that also have been in control of the White House since January 2001? Not that it makes much of a difference, because both major political parties in the US, like the LDP and DPJ in Japan, are under the control of the large corporate entities the members of whose management are the major donors to political parties and campaigns.
Posted in: U.S. government bails out AIG with $85 billion loan
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taikan
Yabits -- Nippon5 didn't attack Bill Clinton. He merely said that the law was changed during the Clinton administration. That's correct. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which essentially repealed the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that had limited the types of businesses in which banks could be involved, was passed in 1999 by the 106th Congress. At the time, the Republicans had a 54-46 majority in the Senate, and a 223-211 majority in the House (with one independent).
The real problem is that the Depression-era generation pretty much died out, and those who came after them thought the Depression-era limits on speculative activity were too restricting. There's a lesson to be learned from this that can be applied to a wide variety of things, including not only the regulation of financial markets (in the US and in Japan), but also whether Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution should be repealed.
Posted in: Bush scraps comments on financial crisis
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taikan
The irony of the government taking over FNMA is that originally it was a government agency. It worked extremely well after its initial creation as part of FDR's New Deal. However, in 1968 it was privatized. Nevertheless, it still continued to work quite well so long as it purchased mortgages that met certain qualification standards as a way of freeing up funds to enable lenders to make new mortgages. However, because of its private ownership, management decided to take more risks in order to obtain greater short-term profits. As a result, the managers got rich but the taxpayers are having to pay for the managers' incompetence as exemplified by their excessive risk-taking.
Posted in: U.S. government takes over mortgage giants
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taikan
The recent report from the GAO concluding that Iraq is likely to end the year with a $79 billion budget surplus (the report can be found at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04902r.pdf) is likely to add to the pressure on the Bush administration to reduce the US presence in Iraq, because it shows that Iraq has more than enough resources to finance its own military, police and reconstruction.
Posted in: Iraq says it is close to deal on U.S. troop withdrawal
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taikan
The question asks whether Japan is part of the West as a matter of geopolitics, and not as a matter of culture or geography. On most geopolitical issues (e.g., Iraq war, WTO, NKorea, etc.), Japan tends to side with the US and/or the EU, rather than with other Asian nations. Thus, it should be classified geopolitically as being allied with the West.
Posted in: In the world of geopolitics, do you think of Japan as part of the West?
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taikan
Betzee, I suggest you read the indictment. The only charges are for violations of Title 18, section 1001 of the US Code. That section prohibits the making of a materially false statement in connection with a matter under the jurisdiction of the government. A charge for income tax evasion would be based on a violation of Title 26, sections 7201, 7202 or 7203 (depending on the specific facts of the violation).
Posted in: Longest-serving GOP Sen Ted Stevens indicted
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taikan
The indictment of Stevens is just the latest in a string of indictments (and guilty pleas) arising from an investigation into contributions and gifts of various types made by VECO and its executives to a number of Alaska state and federal office holders. Do not be surprised if Congressman Young (R - Alaska) is indicted in the future.
What is perhaps most interesting about the indictment of Stevens is that it does not include any bribery or tax evasion charges. Because those charges potentially could result in a longer prison term, the failure of the indictment to include them could mean that the government lacks sufficient evidence to bring those charges, or it could mean that the government is holding them over Stevens' head as a means of persuading him to quickly plead guilty to the "false statement" charges.
Posted in: Longest-serving GOP Sen Ted Stevens indicted
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taikan
The Constitution that the US required Japan to adopt during the post-WWII occupation includes a provision similar to the First Amendment to the US Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech. Because of the way that provision is worded, it has been interpreted by the Japanese courts as protecting the rights of groupts (regardless of political orientation) to engage in demonstrations, including the use of sound trucks.
The US Supreme Court developed a rule allowing "reasonable time, place and manner" restraints on speech, even though such restraints are inconsistent with the literal wording of the First Amendment to the US Constitution (which states that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech"). As a result, there are many laws in the US restricting when, where and in what manner people can exercise their "free speech" rights. Japan's Supreme Court tends to be more literal, and thus has not developed a rule allowing government to pass laws that restrict speech in the same ways that speech is limited in the US.
Posted in: It’s time for emperor to rev up his own sound truck
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taikan
USAR -- Political views are not taken into account in the selection of judges in Japan. After passing the bar exam, all future judges, prosecutors and attorneys in Japan go through the same training, which includes working in judicial chambers. At the end of that process, those who performed well and who expressed an interest in becoming judges are invited to become what are essentially judge trainees. After 5 years they are able to make some minor decisions on their own, and if they perform well then after 10 years they become full fledged judges.
GJP2006 -- Knowing how to put on a case for a jury is not the same as being trained as a critical thinker. For the most part, putting on a case for a jury focuses on identifying the "emotional triggers" that will cause jurors to vote a particular way. In any event, training has been made available both to prosecutors and private attorneys in Japan regarding how to deal with lay jurors and the new trial procedures required to implement the saiban-in system.
Posted in: How effective do you think the lay jury system will be when it starts in Japan next year?
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taikan
Regardless of what one thinks of Chavez, Venezuela's deals with Russia make sense from his perspective. Although Venezuela is one of the five founding members of OPEC, it's oil production is less than one-third that of Russia, so strengthening its ties with Russia and Russia's largest oil companies may have significant long term benefits for Venezuela. As for the deal to purchase weapons, the US stopped selling weapons to Venezuela and Chavez needs them to protect his government from its enemies, real and imagined, including the people of Venezuela.
Posted in: Chavez seeks alliance with Russia for protection from U.S.
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taikan
High conviction rates are the norm in any legal system for a variety of reasons. Often it is because the "finders of fact," whether they are lay jurors (as in the United States) or professional judges, do not truly believe in the presumption of innocence, but instead come to the courtroom with an underlying belief that a defendant would not be prosecuted if he/she is not guilty. This varies greatly depending on location. For example, in the US jurors in large cities tend to be much more skeptical of law enforcement than jurors in suburban or rural areas. Other times, it is because prosecutors fear the stigma attached to losing a case, and therefore only bring cases in which the likelihood of conviction is very high. [Note: Saying that the likelihood of conviction is very high is not the same as saying that the defendant actually committed the crime which he/she is accused of having committed.]
As for the supposed tendency of Japanese to defer to a "sempai," that is not the case within the legal system. Many types of cases currently are decided by three-judge panels, and the discussions and arguments among the three judges, particularly in civil cases, often are intense. In part, this is because (unlike in the US) in Japan there is no tradition of issuing dissenting opinions, so all the judges on the panel ultimately must reach a consensus before a decision is issued. Whether lay jurors will feel comfortable arguing with judges, however, is another matter, and likely will vary greatly depending on the personalities of the lay jurors sitting on any particular panel.
Posted in: How effective do you think the lay jury system will be when it starts in Japan next year?
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taikan
Westurn -- This situation is little, if any, different from that in the United States. It took a massive court judgment to get Ford to issue a "fix" for a design defect in the Pinto that caused it to explode when hit from the rear, even though the design problem and its $8 solution had been identified before the vehicle was released for public sale. Automakers everywhere are the same. They want to make the maximum profit, and that sometimes leads to design and/or manufacturing decisions that, in retrospect, turn out to have been ill-advised.
Posted in: Fuji Heavy, Mitsubishi Fuso, Honda recalling vehicles
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taikan
Sarge -- From your perspective (and mine), there is no doubt that being a militant "sucks."
However, if a military force comprised of Muslims had attacked the United States and toppled its "hard-line Christian" government, wouldn't you be willing to join the resistance forces, even against a stronger military power? From their perspective, that's what they are doing, with the added "attraction" that they fervently believe that if they die in the process, they will go to paradise. Personally, I think they are crazy, but from their perspective their actions are logical and honorable. That's why it's so difficult to defeat them, as the former Soviet Union found out.
Posted in: NATO forces kills 4 Afghan civilians
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taikan
What's missing from this string is an understanding of executive privilege, which like most privileges was created by court decisions. As reflected in those court decisions, the purpose of executive privilege is to protect the confidentiality of advice given to executive decision makers in the government so that those charged with providing such advice will give their full and candid views without fear such views may later be disclosed. However, as with all testimonial privileges, it can be deemed waived if it is not consistently asserted. By revealing to Fitzpatrick information that otherwise might have been covered by the privilege, without being compelled to do so pursuant to a grand jury subpoena, to the extent the information might have been protected by executive privilege from disclosure in a civil case, the President waived any such privilege.
Posted in: Bush claims privilege to withhold CIA leak records
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taikan
It's difficult to argue that Gramm's comment about the US being a "nation of whiners" is incorrect. Also, in the context of the consumer driven economy that Bush has encouraged, Gramm's comment about problems in the US economy being caused in part by a "mental recession" is correct.
However, as reflected by the stock market and the commodities market, the negative thoughts about the economy held by the common people are shared by most economists, commodities traders and investment bankers, as well. In addition, the fact that people have negative thoughts about the economy does not detract from the fact that the US also is suffering from some very real, and very serious, economic problems that are not merely the result of a "mental recession," but instead are the result of stupid decisions by the current administration.
Posted in: Obama ridicules McCain economic adviser for calling Americans 'whiners' in 'mental recession'
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taikan
Sarge -- If oil is going to be the main source of power for the next few decades, wouldn't it be in the long term interests of the US to encourage other countries to drill and sell as much of their oil as possible while the US conserves as much of its oil as possible? That way, when the rest of the world starts to run out of economically available oil, the US still would retain sizable reserves.
In other words, isn't it better for the "thirsty man" to drink someone else's water when he can, so that he still will have his own water to drink when others run out?
Posted in: Bush lifts ban on offshore oil exploration to cope with soaring gas prices
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taikan
Even if one accepts TSA's estimate that the watch list is closer in size to 450,000 than 1 million, that's still a lot of names, and it undoubtedly leads to numerous false alarms. This is illustrated by the fact that the list includes a name shared by the former head of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division (i.e., the former chief federal prosecutor).
Logically, TSA should have no need for a list identifying potentially risky travelers, unless TSA has concluded that current airport security measures are insufficient to prevent someone either from hijacking a plane or from smuggling explosives on board and causing a detonation which destroys the plane in mid-flight.
Posted in: One million names on U.S. terrorist watch list: rights group
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taikan
As the article clearly states, the Japanese people generally are opposed to the use of nuclear power for military purposes. That is why, at a time when the US and Russians use nuclear-powered submarines, all Japanese submarines are still powered by diesel engines. Except on the most superficial level, there is no inconsistency between opposing the use of nuclear power for military purposes and approving the use of nuclear power for other purposes, such as generation of electricity.
Historically, the US military has been sensitive to the concerns of the Japanese people in this regard, and has not stationed nuclear-powered ships in Japan. However, all US aircraft carriers now are nuclear-powered vessels. Therefore, the Japanese government either had to allow a nuclear-powered carrior to berth in Japan, or do without any US aircraft carrier in Japan. Obviously, they chose the former alternative.
Posted in: 13,000 rally against U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier's permanent deployment