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So there were a 100+ riot cops lining the streets in Okubo today when we were going grocery shopping. On our way home we saw the wave of nationalists/fascists having a street parade. Anyone know if there was a reason, or is it just election season?
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Jun 16, 2013 08:21
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It's Sunday and there are lots of Koreans living in Okubo. Isn't that all the reason those nerds need?
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Jun 16, 2013 08:27
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Weatherman posted:It's Sunday and there are lots of Koreans living in Okubo. Isn't that all the reason those nerds need? Nerds yes, cops no.
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Jun 16, 2013 08:28
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Stringent posted:So there were a 100+ riot cops lining the streets in Okubo today when we were going grocery shopping. On our way home we saw the wave of nationalists/fascists having a street parade. Searching for news brought me this from April http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/pro-korean-anti-korean-forces-face-off-in-shin-okubo quote:Nationalistic netouyo groups are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Japanese government’s decisions and are known for making long, angry posts on Internet message boards. Often pointing to the failings of the government and the fact that Japan is losing what once made it a strong, proud nation thanks to the invasion of foreign culture and ideas, netouyo are often critical of Koreans in particular, suggesting that their presence in the country is harmful to Japan. For this reason, the anti-protesters seen on the streets of Shin-Okubo last weekend repeated the phrase “go home to the Internet” in between singing anti-racism songs. I guess its just one of those places where it's easy to rally the nationalists and makes a convenient target.
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Jun 16, 2013 10:55
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Stringent posted:Nerds yes, cops no. Yeah, sorry, I was just referring to the shut-ins. The cops, I assume, were there because the nerds were there.
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Jun 17, 2013 02:13
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Speaking of Shin-Okubo, I was in Tokyo recently on a business trip and chatting to my Japanese colleagues about best/worst parts of town to live in. They mentioned that Shin-Okubo was the worst place to live in, and it took me a while to realize that they were probably pointing indirectly at the large korean population there. It's kind of amazing how Japanese can be incredibly racist but you don't realize it since it's never "in your face".
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Jun 17, 2013 02:22
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shrike82 posted:Speaking of Shin-Okubo, I was in Tokyo recently on a business trip and chatting to my Japanese colleagues about best/worst parts of town to live in. It's more because the buildings are in a pretty poor state of repair and it's kinda noisy. It's actually a pretty good place to live if you can put up with that, given that the rent is cheap relative to a lot of places inside the Yamanote and it's a five minute walk to Shinjuku station.
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Jun 17, 2013 02:25
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Huh. Apparently due mostly to foreign demand, the BoJ has promised to sell inflation-linked bonds starting this October. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324049504578545133373484030.html?mod=ITP_moneyandinvesting_4 The message of confidence this sends to the public alone may be worth it. In terms of market effect, its also is a good way to raise rates without actually raising rates. The only problem is if they actually do get inflation. Anyway, October is far off. Meanwhile, without giving details, Kyle Bass said that one bank (presumably a small regional one) dumped 20% of its JGB holdings in the first quarter. http://beaconreports.net/kyle-bass-tells-beacon-reports-its-checkmate-for-japan/
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Jun 18, 2013 08:05
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I want to see how the Cerberus vs Seibu fight ends.
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Jun 18, 2013 09:15
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Stringent posted:It's more because the buildings are in a pretty poor state of repair and it's kinda noisy. It's actually a pretty good place to live if you can put up with that, given that the rent is cheap relative to a lot of places inside the Yamanote and it's a five minute walk to Shinjuku station. This. I would also add that Shin-Okubo is hardly the only area with dilapidated buildings (Ueno, Nippori, North Ikebukuro immediately come to mind). It definitely feels like there's a racial element to it, especially considering Ikebukuro gets a bad rap for the number of foreigners that live there.
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Jun 19, 2013 03:17
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Kodo posted:This. I would also add that Shin-Okubo is hardly the only area with dilapidated buildings (Ueno, Nippori, North Ikebukuro immediately come to mind). It definitely feels like there's a racial element to it, especially considering Ikebukuro gets a bad rap for the number of foreigners that live there. I dunno, most Japanese landlords seem perfectly happy to poo poo on poor Japanese people just as much. Correlation doesn't mean causation (ie lots of lovely buildings cause of foreigners, or lots of foreigners because of lovely/cheaper apartments). Its far more likely to be simple classism (gently caress the poor people).
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Jun 19, 2013 07:16
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So Hashimoto had for some reason suggested that he might step down as co-leader of the Restoration Party if they did poorly in the Tokyo election, but now that the results are in and of course they actually did poorly he is now saying that he isn't going to. Maybe the press distorted his remarks again?
mystes fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Jun 25, 2013 |
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Jun 25, 2013 17:57
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I awakened the thread to talk about the election tomorrow but first, ^^^^^^^^^^^ at least here in Kanagawa, the ads for So there's an election tomorrow. From reading Shisaku I'm doubting that the LDP is going to get their supermajority, but I am expecting to turn on NHK at 7 or 8 or whenever their election coverage starts to hear, straight off the bat, "It's a whitewash for the LDP!", same as for the lower house election last year.
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Jul 19, 2013 22:43
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I really hope Ikegami does his thing tomorrow night. That one election (the last one maybe?) where he had the grid of live feeds from various candidates, and they would get pissed off and drop out one by one because he wasn't pulling any punches. (to Olympiad / candidate Tani Ryoko, live and on camera) "So, how exactly are you going to balance being a politician AND an Olympic Judoka?" (to the Komeito guy, again live and on camera) "So, the Komeito is basically still connected to Souka Gakkai, right?" Guy's got some cajones.
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Jul 20, 2013 11:27
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I hope this guy wins:
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Jul 20, 2013 16:10
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So is Abenomics still working?
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Jul 20, 2013 21:54
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Mr. Fix It posted:I hope this guy wins:
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Jul 20, 2013 22:44
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Samurai Sanders posted:For someone named Jesus Matayoshi, he sure does want a lot of his enemies to commit seppuku. So do I, at least he's upfront of it instead of through neglect like his opponents.
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Jul 20, 2013 23:52
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So I just read this article from Foreign Policy http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/19/the_wild_card_japan_shinzo_abe_election_constitution I like to keep rough tabs on Japanese politics, mainly through this thread, but of course, it's difficult, as an American. What is the opinion of the average Japanese voter on Abe's potential Constitutional reforms, and also, what is the opinion of SA Japanese posters with regards to Abe and his potential 'reforms'? I don't mean to randomly butt-in, but with all the territorially issues and such in East Asia as of late, it does gather some interest from me and Americans in general, especially with regards to USA's supposed "Pivot to Asia'. I guess I'd just like maybe a succinct answer--since, I dunno, the article says that there will be good chance of a near-complete majority for Abe's ruling party.
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Jul 21, 2013 01:52
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John Nance Garner posted:So I just read this article from Foreign Policy http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/19/the_wild_card_japan_shinzo_abe_election_constitution Also, is the upper house election also unconstitutional, or only the lower? I forget how the upper house works in terms of voting districts, or if it even has them.
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Jul 21, 2013 06:39
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Yeah, considering the 'average Japanese voter' is like 55 years or older, I reckon few goons have much of a clue as to what they're thinking. All of my relatives and in-laws are voting LDP, though, because "the DPJ was ineffective." It seems to be more about punishing the DPJ than supporting the LDP's platform. Sound familiar?
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Jul 21, 2013 08:19
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Sheep posted:Yeah, considering the 'average Japanese voter' is like 55 years or older, I reckon few goons have much of a clue as to what they're thinking. All of my relatives and in-laws are voting LDP, though, because "the DPJ was ineffective." It seems to be more about punishing the DPJ than supporting the LDP's platform. Sound familiar? And until they get out of the loving dark ages and implement preferential voting (aka instant-runoff voting), that's all that's ever going to happen (vote against the incumbent rather than voting for someone whose policies you actually agree with).
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Jul 21, 2013 13:06
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Here we go again! Ikegami is raking the Komeito over the coals!
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Jul 21, 2013 13:57
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Do you have a link or something for Ikegami? We got gently caress all on television here. The results are pretty goddamn depressing so far. NHK-G's headline says it all: 自民・公明 過半数獲得.
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Jul 21, 2013 15:17
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Here's a good visual of it (a news prediction anyway). LDP 66 (Komeito 11) DPJ 16 Restoration 7 Everyone's 8 Commies 9 Socialist 1 Lifestyle (I forget if they have an official English name) 0 Green 0 Other 3 Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 17:47
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I love how every time I see Japanese news, it's like ESPN as imagined through the eyes of a Shigeru Miyamoto wannabe.
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Jul 21, 2013 17:53
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ReindeerF posted:I love how every time I see Japanese news, it's like ESPN as imagined through the eyes of a Shigeru Miyamoto wannabe. Japan is what the world would like if the target market for all domestic production was the pre- and mid-teen age range, as far as I can tell. Everything must be in your face and constantly assaulting your senses so as to keep hold of your incredibly fleeting attention. Also it must be cute and have a mascot.
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Jul 21, 2013 23:16
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Samurai Sanders posted:LDP 66 (Komeito 11) I was really surprised to see that a local Okinawan party (社大党) won a seat in Okinawa.
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Jul 21, 2013 23:20
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I was surprised that the communists beat all parties except the LDP in terms of number of votes cast. Also that turnout was less than 60%. All those pricks who say "By Amaterasu, if we allow gaijins to vote in local council elections then they'll all move to one city and vote to turn the entire country into the 51st state of North Korea!!11!!" should perhaps focus less on how tiny their dicks are and more on getting more lazy people to vote, instead of constructing elaborate yet ultimately impossible boogeymen?
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Jul 21, 2013 23:47
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Weatherman posted:I was surprised that the communists beat all parties except the LDP in terms of number of votes cast. edit: which is to say both countries are pretty terrible at getting their citizens to vote. edit edit: It's weird for Japan though because their average age is like 150 over there, and old people are supposed to love voting. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 23:51
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Sheep posted:Everything must be in your face and constantly assaulting your senses so as to keep hold of your incredibly fleeting attention. I'm glad we don't have to put up with that in America.
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Jul 22, 2013 00:09
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There was a decent article in Foreign Affairs recently about the diabolical cycle that is occurring, in which politicians are pandering to pensioners because pensioners are the ones who vote (and of course because they are disproportionately represented), which leads to very pensioner-friendly policies. The upshot is that there is no immediate benefit for those in power to push strongly for the kind of structural reform that will help the country in the long-term at the expense of pensioner interests (ie, revising the pension system). So you have a system in which it is difficult for younger people to become interested in politics, because politics is literally for the elderly. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139589/alexandra-harney/japans-silver-democracy
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Jul 22, 2013 02:31
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It's pretty much the exact same thing when it comes to JA and the agricultural vote, not to mention the people in the boondocks whose votes 'count' for more than people in cities due to depopulation.Lemmi Caution posted:I'm glad we don't have to put up with that in America. I'm glad this isn't a thread about America.
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Jul 22, 2013 03:09
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Bloodnose posted:For bonus hilarity, this means something like "to scheme maliciously in the shadows" in Chinese. Goddamn math-havers. 
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Jul 22, 2013 04:39
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John Nance Garner posted:What is the opinion of the average Japanese voter on Abe's potential Constitutional reforms, and also, what is the opinion of SA Japanese posters with regards to Abe and his potential 'reforms'? The following is mostly to do with the economic side of things and so-called Abenomics. My totally non-scientific polling of my adult students over 30 indicates, first of all, fairly low interest in anything that Abe is doing. When pressed about Abenomics in particular, they'll simply reply "Well, my salary is still the same." Wage growth is the ultimate measure of success for Abenomics. Besides improving the lives of Japanese people, it will allow the government to rake in more money through taxes without having to raise tax rates, and it's hard to overstate how desperately they need this. Currently, the Japanese government is a quadrillion yen in debt, which is about 240% of their GDP and 24x their yearly tax revenue; they've spent more than twice what they make in taxes for five years in a row, and even though interest rates on their bonds are extremely low, they spend about 30% of their tax revenue on interest payments alone. Tax revenues have been decreasing steadily for 20 years, while government spending has been steadily increasing. For comparison, US debt at 16 trillion dollars is around 110% of GDP, 7x yearly tax revenue; the government spends about 40% more than they make each year, and interest payments on the debt are about 10% of tax revenues. Things were much better before the recent crash, too. Whatever other differences there may be between them, countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland got into the trouble they did with numbers much less severe than Japan's. And so back in Japan, what they need for wage growth is a boost in productivity. Unemployment is low, so it's all about giving companies as they currently exist more opportunity to churn out goods and services. All the money printing of Abenomics aims to devalue the yen and force investment in the private sector, which will theoretically make export companies more competitive internationally and give all companies more resources to grow. To their credit, the stock market is still going up, and the economy grew relatively fast in the last quarter. But remember, it's not going to matter until wages go up. In the meantime, the government is talking about adjusting taxes, including a rise in sales tax and a decrease in corporate taxes. They're also hinting at cutting spending, but they've been vague about that so far. They've been equally vague about their structural reforms, aka the "third arrow" of Abenomics, which will supposedly help productivity as well. Now that the elections are over, it's time to see what Abe has up his sleeves. Everyone is watching closely, especially the people in financial 1markets. To be honest, the common sentiment among common Japanese people seems to be that there will be some kind of economic crisis. It's not "if", but "when", and you'll find a lot of different opinions about the "when". Frankly, it does seem pretty hopeless. In 1990, when Japan was on top of the world economically, the government took in 60 trillion yen in tax revenues. That's the most they ever took in history. Currently, their yearly spending is over 100 trillion. Their workforce population is shrinking, and their elderly dependent population is growing. My most intelligent and successful student happens to be the CEO of a company with billions of yen in yearly profits. Needless to say, he's rich, but guess what? Every month, when he pays himself, he keeps only what he needs for that month in yen and converts everything else to other currencies. I don't have a lot of yen, either. Samuelthebold fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 08:22
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Yeah I don't see any structural reforms happening until the entire thing topples over in a pile of dust. Bureaucrats aren't going to do anything that might have the slightest hint of decreasing their salary or numbers. Collect salary now, gently caress the future.
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Jul 22, 2013 11:47
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Samuelthebold posted:Whatever other differences there may be, countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland got into the trouble they did with numbers much less severe than Japan's. Japan controls its own currency so it can ride this for a long time, just look at South America.
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Jul 22, 2013 14:40
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To me it seems a lot of Japan's problems is due to the lack of population growth.
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Jul 22, 2013 15:02
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It's the other way round. Lack of population growth is not the cause, but the result of bad economic policy and other horrible poo poo Japanese people have to deal with.
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Jul 22, 2013 15:11
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Lucy Heartfilia posted:It's the other way round. Lack of population growth is not the cause, but the result of bad economic policy and other horrible poo poo Japanese people have to deal with. I'm not so sure about the idea that weak economic growth is responsible for low population growth. The TFR in Japan is actually higher than in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, all of which have done very well economically during Japan's two decades of stagnation.
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Jul 22, 2013 15:17
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