Reuters is reporting that Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will likely face a censure motion next week by the opposition-controlled upper house of parliment. The reason seems a bit dubious: introducing a confusing national health care insurance scheme that has outraged many elderly by forcing some aged 75 and over to pay more.

Other notes from the article:

• Fukuda’s approval ratings are below 20%.
• The ruling party is discussing replacing him after he hosts a Group of Eight summit in July.
• The censure motion is purely symbolic and is rarely used.
• Fukuda took office since the last national election and another national election is not scheduled until September, 2009.

The issue of the North Korean abductions is one of the most thorny issues between Japan and North Korea.  I saw the documentary, The Megumi Yokota Story, on that subject at the Cleveland International Film Festival in 2006 (it turns out that it will be broadcast on U.S. Public television in a few weeks). In a nutshell, in 1977, 13-year old Megumi was abducted in Japan by North Koreans for the purpose of teaching their spies how to speak Japanese fluently to be more effective spies. She was actually one of at least 13 Japanese who were abducted. Now the Daily Mainichi reports a small development in the case. North Korea maintains that Megumi died in April, 1994 but an eyewitness is now saying that he saw her at least 2 months after that. The mystery (and heartache for the family) continues…

Brighter, sunlit summer evenings are something I miss since moving to Japan. I hide inside under air-conditioning during the day, and by the time I finish work, night has already fallen. In winter you expect that, but in summer?

Really, who needs bright sunshine and searing heat waking you hot and sweaty at 4.30 in the morning, but still have the sun setting no later than 7pm?

Today, the Prime Minister “expressed support for introducing daylight saving time in Japan”

[He noted] an increase in calls for the country not to go against a worldwide trend. “Japan has become one of the few countries that do not use daylight saving time. I think calls are increasing for Japan to introduce such a system,’’ Fukuda said.

Please please please please please…

Reuters is reporting on the release of the Global Peace Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit.  The report is based on 24 indicators including U.N. deployments overseas, respect for human rights, levels of violent crime, and arms sales.

The Group of Eight economic powers ranked as follows: Japan (5th), Canada (11th), Germany (14th), Italy (28th), France (36th), Britain (49th), U.S. (97th), and Russia (131st), out of 140 ranked. 

Iceland ranked first.

The bottom 5 included Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Israel, and Iraq.

Yes, that really is a photo of the Obama Fishing Port Entrance.

The NY Times has a straight-up report of the visit of Hu Jintao to Japan. Interesting points from the article:

• It is the first visit by a Chinese leader in a decade.
• They discussed some thorny issues including control of an underwater natural gas field in the East China Sea and an unsolved case of poison found in frozen Chinese-made dumplings sold in Japan.
• China said it would lend Japan a pair of giant pandas, after a panda died of old age at a Tokyo zoo last week.
• The two leaders will face each other in table tennis.

A recent poll by Mainichi indicates that the support rate for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s Cabinet is at 18 percent, which down six points from a previous poll conducted in April.

As many as 77 percent of respondents said they disagree with the April launch of a new medical insurance system for over-75s, while 74 percent disapproved of the reinstated provisional tax on gasoline, the result of the ruling coalition ramming a bill amending the Special Taxation Measures Law through the Diet into law.

The Fukuda Cabinet enjoyed a support rate of 57 percent when it came to power last fall.

Party-wise, the trends are the same.

As for the support rate for political parties, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) gained 20 percent, four points down from the previous poll, while the approval rate for the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) increased by six points to 28 percent. It is the first time that the support rate for the DPJ surpassed that the LDP’s since December last year, when the ratio stood at 27 percent for the DPJ versus 26 percent for the LDP.

One thing that Japanese politicians are always hoping to avoid, but are always causing, is ‘confusion’. And with Golden Week and the end of April approaching, Japanese motorists are getting reading for some ‘major confusion’.

Except of course, there is no confusion in the literal sense. It’s an absolute certainty that petrol prices are going to go up. And by more than a little.

The government are working to reinstate the so-called temporary petrol tax that ‘ran out’ at the end of March, leading to a drop in pump prices of ¥20-25. If they succeed, it’s likely to be slapped back on at the beginning of May. The beginning of May also coincides with Golden Week, when Japan goes on holiday en masse, and traditionally gets shafted by a pre-Golden Week price hike at petrol stations anyway.

When the ¥25 tax was removed at the beginning of April, prices round here fell, at the very most, by ¥20, and consumers waited for 3-5 days to see the benefit, as retailers waited to ‘finish stocks of petrol bought at the higher, taxed price’. Even so, there were grumbles from petrol retailers about projected losses.

With the start of Golden Week, the Japanese consumer can expect to get a three-way shafting - the now traditional ¥4-5 Golden Week hike, the continuing rise of global crude prices, and the reinstatement of the tax. And when the tax comes back, will it be (as cynics like me suspect) at a full ¥25 even at stations that only reduced prices by ¥20 or less? There’s potential for the added confusion of when retailers choose to readjust the tax/price - selling petrol that they bought at the lower price, will they maintain the lower price while they still have stock (just as they maintained the higher prices until they’d sold all their higher priced stock a month ago), or will that tax go back on the second it can?

Assorted media are mentioning prices of ¥160 or higher. For comparison, my nearest petrol station is currently selling at ¥122, so we’re talking about a rise of over 30%.

Will all this be enough to enrage the traditionally docile Japanese consumer? The pre-Golden Week price hike is the most interesting part of the equation. Just as everyone prepares get in their cars and go off on holiday, the petrol prices are raised. Every year, like clockwork, the captive audience gets shafted. And does little more than quietly grumble, and acquiesce and pay up. After all, what’s the alternative - vote for change, or something equally mad?

Two separate pieces ran yesterday which in different ways ask ‘is Japan conservative’? Of course that is a sweeping generalization to make about an entire country, nevertheless, I would think that few would argue that Europe (especially western Europe) is generally more liberal than the United States.  Europe has socialized (er, socialised) medicine, and more government activism (liberals would call it minding social welfare and conservatives would describe it as “nanny state intervention.”).  Back to Japan…

Roger Cohen, an opinion columnist for the New York Times, posits that Asia including Japan lean Republican (conservative) vs. Europe which leans Democrat (liberal).  

The three largest powers — China, India and Japan — have all had reasons to view Bush with favor, and all have nagging fears about a Democratic administration. At a deeper level, they’ve felt comfortable enough with a United States playing power politics, while that strut-your-stuff style has appalled consensus-driven Europeans.

China does not want an America that turns inward.  Nor does Japan, which has reacted to China’s rise by reinforcing its strategic ties with the United States, and has been reassured by the Bush administration’s unequivocal commitment to America’s Asian military alliances. America-in-Asia remains a Japanese priority, ugly incidents at Okinawa notwithstanding. 

The second article which comes from Japan Today describes how 4 inmates were executed by hanging.  On the left-right spectrum, capital punishment is aligned with the right (conservatives).

Four death row inmates were hanged Thursday, Justice Minister Yukio Hatoyama said, bringing the total number of inmates executed under his orders to 10 in three rounds of executions during a four-month period.

The 10 executions under Hatoyama mark the fastest pace of executions since the Justice Ministry resumed executions in 1993 after a pause of three years and four months.

The cumulative total of inmates executed reached 67 after Thursday’s executions, while the number of inmates on death row now stands at 104. 

I have not been here long enough to have an educated opinion of Japanese politics (although I have observed 3 Prime Ministers in about a year!).  I am interested to see readers’ opinions of Japanese politics although I will add the caution to please keep posts respectful of those with differing opinions and please stay on topic.

With a looming global financial crisis it’s a very hands-on time for governors of national banks the world over. But in Japan, the top job is vacant while the government and opposition use the appointment as a political football.

That’s the view expressed in a Mainichi editorial published yesterday under the no-nonsense headline “Leaving top BOJ post empty is a crime“.

“To avoid a crisis in the financial system,” the editorial notes, “central banks in major countries are working and communicating closely together to deal with the situation.” Meanwhile in Japan, in its splendid isolation, there’s nobody at the helm.

The appointment of governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) requires approval from both houses of the Diet, but while the ruling coalition controls the lower house, control of the upper house is in the hands of the opposition.

If you ask the governing jimintou (LDP), they’ll tell you that the opposition led by the minshutou (DPJ) are simply vetoing any suggestion they make in order to obstruct the business of government. If you ask the opposition, they’ll tell you that the government are attempting to crowbar cronies into the governor’s office, thereby compromising the independence of the BOJ.

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said this week

These are pretty turbulent times in the financial markets, and it is important for Japan to have a steady voice people can rely on. It is important for the world economic community to know whose hand is on the tiller at the Japanese central bank.”

Which is a fairly diplomatic way of saying “Stop pissing about”.

The government had first nominated Toshiro Muto, on the not unreasonable-sounding grounds of having been BOJ Deputy Governor. The opposition complained that as Muto had been a Ministry of Finance bureaucrat for 30 years, he “would not be as independent as a central bank chief should be”.

Tellingly though, the Mainichi continued,

They are also angry that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has rammed through other bills, which require approval only from the more powerful lower house.

So basically after not being able to oppose anything for a while, the opposition were using this opportunity to make a big show of baring teeth by sticking a spanner in a big one.

Then Koji Tanami (another former Ministry of Finance bureaucrat) was proposed. And rejected.

Senior Democratic legislator Naoto Kan said his party also wanted to avoid a vacancy at the central bank’s helm, but Tanami’s career was so similar to Muto’s, it wouldn’t have made sense to block one and not the other. “People would think that’s too illogical.”

So if you’re going to appear obstructive, at least be consistent.

The previous BOJ chief, Toshihiko Fukui, finished his term as governor on Wednesday. In the meantime Masaaki Shirakawa, who has already been approved as one of two deputy governors, is serving as acting BOJ governor as the political impasse continues.

One possible solution to the problem outlined by the Mainichi is that “the government could revise the Bank of Japan law to require only lower house approval for the personnel decision, allowing Fukuda to force through his initial choice, Muto. But the opposition is unlikely to welcome such a move. ” Unlikely indeed.

From CBC News:

Japan has created an unusual government post to promote animation, and named a perfect figure to the position: a popular cartoon robot cat named Doraemon.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed the cat as “anime ambassador” at an inauguration ceremony Wednesday.

The mayor of Meiwa in Gunma Prefecture and seven other members of the town’s municipal assembly have filed a lawsuit against a female Meiwa Municipal Assembly member for defamation, because she is pressing indecent assault charges against another assembly member. The group says that the 52-year-old women implied that they also were involved in the assault and thereby defamed them.

“We tried to talk to her about it, but couldn’t come to a conclusion so had no option but to take the matter to the courts,” [the mayor] said.

The woman was baffled by the litigation.

“I don’t understand what they’re trying to do by suing me,” she said. “It’s sad.”

According to the suit, the woman gave a press conference at which she claimed to have sexually harrassed. She told reporters that she screamed, but all of the other municipal assembly member who were present acted as if nothing had happened.

The mayor and assembly memebers are demanding 100,000 yen each plus an apoloy to be printed in the newspaper. The woman in the meantime has filed a criminal complaint against the other 49-year-old assemblyman who she says fondled her breast.

Danwei has an interesting about Björk’s Sunday night gig in Shanghai, apparently only her second ever gig in China, and by the looks of things, very possibly her last.

Adam Schokora writes that Björk “closed the show with a 2nd encore performance of “Declare Independence” – a rousing power-to-the people anthem containing such lyrics as: “Declare independence!” “Don’t let them do that to you!” “Start your own currency!” “Make your own stamp” “Protect your language” “Make your own flag!” “Raise your flag!”…etc.”

You can imagine where this might be going.

At the end of the song, just before walking off stage, Bjork left the crowd with two words: “Tibet…..Tibet”……fully audible, in English.

Adam goes on to say, and illustrate, in his post that reaction among China’s netizens has been spirited.

according to an article released in february 21st by the economist, the magazine revisted an issue they first discussed in print a decade ago, namely “ japan’s amazing ability to disappoint.”

while the steady economic growth of the past few years has been an encouraging sign, there are major structural problems in the economy which threaten to relegate the japanese market to a decadent future where it would no longer be a “top-tier” economy, according to the economy minister, Hiroko Ota.

When the groups Reporters Without Borders and Chinese Human Rights Defenders published an online report titled Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship about how China is censoring online content, the Chinese government did the only thing it knows how to do. . . It censored the report

Just hours after the report was issued, Yang Le, the head of the Beijing Information Office, which is in charge of Internet control, circulated an order to websites and ISPs asking them to update their lists of banned key-words. The new banned key-words, mostly relating to the Internet, were used throughout the Reporters Without Borders report.

Read more about it here.

Via The Raw Feed

The British Olympic Association (BOA) reportedly is forcing the nation’s athletes to sign contracts that effectively ban them from speaking out against human rights abuses in China.

The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes’ contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.

The ban goes into effect from the moment a competitor signs up with the team, and those who refuse to sign will not be allowed to travel to Beijing. Violators will be sent home immediately.

The clause, in section 4 of the contract, simply states: “[Athletes] are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues.”

It then refers competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter, which “provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.

What about other countries? The United States, Canada, Finland, and Australia all have announced their athletes will be free to speak about any issue concerning China. Only New Zealand and Belgium have banned athletes from giving political opinions.

A recent Japan Times article about warnings eminating from an annual gathering of business leaders in Kyoto over the the political situation here and its affect on Japan’s “place on the world stage,” reveals that some “leaders” in Japan seem to prefer the relative harmony of a one-party dictatorship over a two-party system of checks and balances.

Opposition party control of the Upper House since July has created political gridlock that is hurting Japan’s international reputation, participants said.

Solutions offered to break the deadlock were sometimes radical. Kyoto University professor Terumasa Nakanishi, a strong advocate of Japan having nuclear weapons, suggested the Upper House be abolished in its current form.

If this guy is a professor (which, I guess, makes him among Japan’s best and brightest), then Japan may be worse off than we imagine. The people voted the opposition (Democratic Party of Japan) into power in The Upper House because they were dissatisfied with the policies and practices of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and their coalition partner New Komeito Party. So in response this geek says Japan should simply abolish the Upper House in order to give the LDP and New Komeito a free hand, effectively spitting squarely into the eye of the Japanese voting public.

But even Nakanishi seems to have realized what a wacky notion this is, for he offered an alternative “plan,” albeit one that is no less wacky than the first (emphasis mine).

More moderately, [Nakanishi] also favors a coalition government.

“Two main parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan, forming a coalition government is the only way to break the stalemate,” Nakanishi said, to the approval of many of the senior business leaders present.

Well, this approach accomplishes essentially the same thing as the first: that is it basically nullifies the results of the Upper House election and gives notice to the people of Japan that their votes mean absolutely nothing. It tells them the system is not only rigged, it is owned and operated by a small group of self-anointed, self-important elitists with a sense of entitlement that they feels puts them well above the law, the constitution, and the will of the people they govern.

What is the biggest threat to Japan according to these “leaders?”

Why, nails that refuse to be hammered down to the benefit of the powers that be, of course.

Many participants complained bitterly about what they see as self-centered behavior by corporations and individuals, especially among the younger generation[.]

Though they do not have the right to vote in American elections, the residents of the city of Obama, Japan are cheering on their namesake, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, in the primary elections underway in the United States.

“The name of our city happens to sound the same as his and we’re hoping the name Obama will spread worldwide on the coattails of his popularity,” said 54-year-old Satoshi Emi, head of the international exchange office of the city, which is located in Fukui Prefecture.

Actually the citizens of Obama probably don’t know that much about the Democrat Party presidential hopeful’s policies, but they feel his success in the U.S. might bode well for their local economy.

“We’d like him to win the election and visit our city as president,” said 55-year-old Kiyoji Fujihara, a group representative.

The group is also considering selling Japanese-style “manju” sweets with Obama’s portrait on them.

Popular Japanese songstress Kumi Koda has gotten into hot water by commenting on a radio program that she would like to have a child before she turns 35, “when women turn 35, their amniotic fluid goes rotten.” Koda committed the gaffe on the popular late night radio show “All Night Nippon,” when the host asked her if she was planning to have children.

Her remarks sparked an uproar among listeners prompting an apology by Koda, and her production company has canceled a number of her upcoming appearances apparently as punishment.

I guess if Kumi ever loses her job as an entertainer, she probably has a promising future as a Liberal Democratic Part politician.

Via TokyoGraph

Ah, how I’ve missed him. But former Foreign Minister Taro Aso was back in the news yesterday.

Mr Aso has been away from the limelight for a while, after getting shunted aside during the Prime Ministerial changeover from Shinzo Abe to Yasuo Fukuda last autumn.

But you knew he couldn’t stay quiet for long. He usually has a word or two to say on most subjects, well-judged or otherwise. And he seldom disappoints.

Mr Aso added his voice to the tumult over the poisoned Chinese gyoza scandal, by saying in a speech in Kumamoto yesterday -

“I’ve been saying that Japanese agricultural products are expensive but taste good and are clean and safe,” Aso said. “To be blunt, the agricultural cooperatives should thank China. Great value has been added (to Japanese products).”

Now that’s what I call optimism.