The Japanese politics thread: Old men fucking each other ITT - The Something Awful Forums

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Japanese politics thread: Old men fucking each other ITT

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Grand Fromage posted:

No, I get a lot less than when I first moved here. Am I using the words wrong?

In your case, the dollar is up against the won. A less ambiguous way of saying it would be the dollar has appreciated against the won.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2012 01:07

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 18:52

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

A sexy submarine posted:

LDP - Komeito government. DPJ doesn't even need to factor in.

I have a feeling that LDP-Komeito won't get to a majority alone. That may be the Hashists way into government.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2012 13:57

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Kenishi posted:

A country still using the fax machine like it was invented yesterday isn't going to be making any giant leaps to robots. Especially when you consider that they haven't turned out anything remotely innovative in the robotic industry in the past decade or two. And to head off anyone stating "ASIMO." That's a pet project that's been going on for decades now and hasn't shown us anything producable except that they can make a robot that can shuffle-dance. DARPA in 20 years has produced more advanced robots that have actually shown utility. BIGDOG(Youtube) is probably the most notable example. I believe I've seen some freestanding bipedal robots as well, but they are still tied to power lines.

Even assuming that Japan advanced the robotic industry by leaps and bounds in the next 2 decades. What makes you believe they'd adopt using them around old people? You live here, what on earth makes you think they'll adopt something so radically technological when they have been slow to adapt other advancements? This also ignoring the technological issues that need to be overcome as well not just in robotics but in AI as well.

Anyone suggesting robots, as Japan's solution to them not having sex, is joking whether they realize it not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9nr0rXVZko

# ¿ Feb 27, 2013 08:15

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Reverend Cheddar posted:

There was a drama a couple years back about the fashion industry that was super hammy (when aren't they) but it had this white guy as the assistant to the evil lady villain. And he was totally fluent and they played it straight. In an actual drama that's the only one I remember, but there's others that stand out, mostly comedians. This one guy called Pakkun is pretty cool.

edit: come to think of it, the vast majority of the time you see ridiculous caricatures is in advertisements. Mr. James anyone?

This motherfucker terrifies me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEQhg0qb-2E

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 09:35

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

A sexy submarine posted:

Repeatedly complaining about Japan and the Japanese way of doing things, then wondering why Japanese society doesn't accept you.

~The gaijin lyfe~

Is it okay if I complain about Japan and it's backasswards ways if I don't care about not being accepted? It's one of my favorite pastimes. :japan:

:japan:

# ¿ Mar 11, 2013 02:26

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

The only people that benefit from this protectionist agricultural policy are olds out in the boonies. Which is why it won't change :eng99:

:eng99:

NewtGoongrich posted:

The logical disconnect is that if it isn't right for the "Japanese palette", tariffs aren't needed to make sure no one/very few people buy it.

*WHOOSH*

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 07:51

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

ErIog posted:

Rice in Asia recently going through a ridiculous supply shock due to speculation, and not an actual lack of supply, seems like a great reason to keep tariffs on rice in order to protect the self-sufficiency of a nation that already relies on imports more than it probably should. For as much talk about how Japanese people won't ever stand for anything but Japanese rice, in practice they know that people respond to cheap prices. Thus, they keep the tariffs in place to prevent the hollowing out of their domestic food supply.

People benefit from this policy, and so therefore we should do away with it? Yeah, gently caress those old rural people that feed the country, right?

loving modernize the farming infrastructure. I bet they could compete on price if the farmers weren't all decrepit geezers and geezettes. That supply shock was triggered by another dumb policy in another country: India decided to ban rice exports. One market distorting policy isn't fixed with another.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 09:10

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Kenishi posted:

I don't follow. Imposing tariffs doesn't cost money. Unless you are trying to say that the difference in money saved from "letting the market set the price" is the money 'spent.'
I really don't care one way or the other. What I do know is I live in rural Japan and see the reality of the situation. More than half the land out here is farm land and most of the populace working the land is people well over 40. If even half of these people are relying on selling their crops for income, then the removal of tariffs will probably put most in dire straits.

One question I still have is if the federal government removes tariffs, can prefectures just go back later and pass prefecture-level laws to reinstate tariffs on the prefecture level on imported goods?

It's simple: the Japanese are wasting money on food in a misguided, inefficient, market distorting exercise in de facto welfare by protecting inefficient farming. Buy up all the loving olds' farm land, put them to work nursing the super-olds, and sell the land to farming conglomerates that can actually turn a profit without ridiculous protections. Hell, I don't care if they require it to stay farm land instead of redeveloping. And the prefectures have zero independence: Japan is a unitary state.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2013 16:57

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

ErIog posted:

What's wrong with welfare? You say that like it's supposed to trigger some sort of boogeyman response in me where I go, "Oh noes! Welfare! The horror!"

If you're so against welfare then you should probably keep the farming infrastructure as it is in Japan. A lot of the farming is done by rural and old people who aren't going to be on the lookout for jobs or won't really be able to get new jobs very easily when GloboRiceCorp puts them forcibly out of business.

So after they're put out of business they would probably need explicit welfare instead of the de facto welfare you're saying this policy is.

You misinterpret my objection: I would much prefer actual welfare to wastefully keeping people farming. It would be much more efficient overall. I'm not wholly insensitive to the plight of people in rural Japan.

quote:

Why does it have to turn a profit? Again, like the welfare thing, you're stating this like I'm supposed to have some sort of strong negative reaction. You're not backing up anything, and just come off like an unhinged libertarian.

I fully admit that what I'm saying to being a bit on the cartoonishly neo-liberal side. But I am of a neo-liberal bent and do believe in the power of markets to create efficiency. You wouldn't disagree that agriculture in Japan is woefully inefficient, would you? There needs to be a profit so that it can be properly marketized.

quote:

Also, it was kind of cute the first time you denigrated old people/rural people, but it's starting to get really tiring. I don't understand how you expect people to take your argument seriously when you show clear contempt for the actual people involved in the situation you're discussing.

Lighten up. I'm sure there are olds saying far more incendiary things about you as I type this.

quote:

On the one hand you claim to care about competition, but then on the other hand you admit yourself that absent market protections, it would just be taken over by conglomerates. That would most certainly lead to collusion and price-fixing as it has in every situation.

This I can't find a fault with. There is nothing that leads to me to believe that the OBs' club that runs this country wouldn't gently caress it up. However, poo poo has got to change, so I really prefer they give it a shot. Hope springs eternal, eh?

quote:

So at the end of your plan you're advocating:

This should be good.

quote:

1) Hollowing out domestic food production in favor of importing.

Not necessarily, but yes, I do think that imports would increase. As long a trade remains open and mostly free this won't be an issue. And if people really must worry about "food security", I'm sure there are better solutions than tariffs. Turning agriculture profitable would be a good start. I really think it's moot, though, since there is hardly a developed country in the world that wouldn't be hosed if they couldn't import food.

quote:

2) Vastly increasing unemployment.

Perhaps temporarily. Long-term though it's better to get people doing more productive work. Also, Japan's unemployment rate hides the fact that so many people are working on temporary contracts. I think the solution to this problem is a much more liberal labor marketplace, but that's another issue.

quote:

3) Increasing the amount of money being siphoned out of the Japanese economy by multinationals.

What the hell does this even mean?

quote:

Do you by any chance work for a multinational that produces cheap rice? That's the only way I can make sense of your arguments.

lol, what.

quote:

There's a lot of poo poo wrong with Japanese markets, economics, and politics. Tariffs on rice that provide a livelihood for a lot of people and protect the core of the food supply strikes me as one of the least offensive practices Japan engages in.

Providing livelihoods to people by distorting markets is dumb and will hurt a lot of people in the long run. I've already dismissed the bogeyman of "food security".

quote:

If you're worried about long term efficiency then I can kind of see a point. Japan could do more with the land it has if used more efficiently. This is a problem that doesn't really need an explicit policy solution, though, because Japan is going to be forced to become more efficient in these areas as the population decreases.

No, those areas are going to whither and die. Their only use will be for urbex tourism. Which gives me an idea for a startup

quote:

Also, removing tariffs would not lead to more efficient use of Japanese land for farming. It would lead to that land being paved over after all those people were put out of business with cheap imported rice.

Again, I'm not against preventing the development of farmland in some cases, especially if it's to dampen shock to the system. I do want what farmland there is to be farmed efficiently.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 02:22

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Kenishi posted:

The only problem with 100% free trade in the rice/agri business in Japan is that its like going 100% cold turkey on a heroin addiction. Free trade isn't the answer to fixing Japan's agricultural industry. The answer is reworking policy on agriculture so it can eventually compete on an international level and scale back tariffs. Not that either of these are ever going to occur.

If tomorrow you revoked tariffs on rice, there wouldn't be any 'adapting' or 'improvements.' All there would be is a study and a news article a year from now showing that almost a million people over the age of 65 are now poorer than they were last year and that many of them are pleading to local governments for welfare assistance because they no longer make enough. The anti-LDP news rags will run articles talking about elderly who died because they could no longer get by and how the welfare system is taxed even more now that most farmers are effectively unemployed. And all for what? So we (the Japanese in this case) could line the pockets of some foreign stockholders. It'd be political suicide and is exactly why it'll never happen in this generation.

This is really just an ideological argument on libertarian economic Darwinism vs "maybe we shouldn't disregard the potential millions that might die from 'free trade.'"

What a bunch of fear-mongering and straw-men. Borrowing a line from ErIog, do you by any chance work for JA? That's the only way I can make sense of your arguments. :v:

:v:

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 15:36

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Deceitful Penguin posted:

Good gods that's genius. So at least something is safe from the corp fucks.
Why, Mr Neoliberal, point out all the well working examples to the contrary to his "fear-mongering", where a sudden influx of free-market bullshit has helped an industry, any industry really. Because for any example you'd care to give I could probs drag up three that showed how it hosed people over.

And also way to see the difference between how a thing would be reported and how it would be, guy. Are you an economist by any chance? Do you often have problems telling real things from false ones?

Who's calling for a sudden influx? There's a ton of other reforms that need to happen before opening the gates. It's moot anyways, since no reform will happen and the government will somehow get a TPP that doesn't touch agricultural tariffs. It is funny to see you laud those land reforms, as rural Japan whithers away due to migration to places with actual work and olds dying off. Rural Japan doesn't need protectionist tariffs, it needs economic growth. Which it won't get as long as resources are misallocated to keeping Grandpa Taro's farm barely afloat.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 17:33

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Kenishi posted:

Is it really fear-mongering if its well within the realm of the possible?

If you went free market overnight, without any sort of govt. assistance or change to current policy (like that bizarro law I quoted from wiki earlier), you wouldn't be adding 'competitiveness' to the industry, you'd be wiping it out. Most of these small farmers wouldn't be able to adapt because they work the field on their own. Whereas Monsanto has GM crops to push out more yield and (probably) machines that could harvest/plant that same field in half an hour. You can shrug and say "Welp, that's just how the market works." but if that's all you have to offer for your argument in support of opening the market; then I can tell you aren't going to be swaying constituency's mind.

I'm not really arguing food security/self-sufficiency like others have. I'm merely pointing out the social ramifications of opening the market; things which get drowned out all too often and hand-waved away as stuff that "will work it self out, just give it time..." I live in Japan and get pissed off at olds just as much any one else. But civilized countries don't ignore their elderly population and leave them to starve or freeze to death. I guess if they open the markets though, then they won't be starving ; lets just hope they aren't using crop revenue to pay off a mortgage.

No one said overnight. That's one of the strawmen I was referring to.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2013 17:34

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Sheep posted:

In totally unrelated news, Takafumi Horie was released on temporary? bail today. Guy lost 30 kilos in not even two years of jail, yikes.

Here's his Wikipedia article for those that aren't familiar with him.

仮釈放 = parole

# ¿ Mar 27, 2013 15:27

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Cameron posted:

Sorry if these questions come off a little vague but I'm interested in investing in the Yen and Abe's policies. I'm looking for a general idea about whether or not they will work.

1. What's the general feeling about deflation and weakening the yen? Is the yen going to collapse or will it hover where it is and then get stronger again? What's the feeling on Abe's money printing policy? Well reasoned or hair brained?

2. What's the reason for the sales tax hike? To get more money out into the government to lower debt or to try and take away personal savings to (again) deflate the currency? Neither?

3. What will prices on goods and services do if the yen deflates more or strengthens again? I know prices are going down or staying the same right now because of weak exports and people trying to save more.

I'll leave answering this to someone more knowledgeable, but I want to point out that it's inflation when a currency devalues.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2013 06:33

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

I hope this guy wins:

# ¿ Jul 20, 2013 16:10

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Vagabundo posted:

That's nice and all, but it's pretty loving obvious that's not what Aso meant at all, when the quote is actually viewed in the context of the entirety of the speech.

The context is that Aso is a high ranking member of a political party trying to change the Japanese constitution. Any interpretation where he's trying to warn against doing what is one of his party's main goals makes no sense. Extra context: he's a dumb old man with a history of making dumb gaffes.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2013 02:56

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Vagabundo posted:

He's not talking about not changing the Constitution. He's talking about discussing the content of the Constitution and any changes made to it in a rational, calm and coherent manner.

Do you even know who Taro Aso is? He's a hilarious gaffe machine. He says that he meant we should learn from the disastrous changes to the Weimar constitution, but given his history and his party's platform, the more sinister interpretation is all too plausible.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2013 04:06

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

I just re-read the whole thing and I still think he's saying they should quietly change the constitution like the Nazis and that even the best written constitution can be bent to the will of someone with enough cunning. I did like the part where he called olds (in their 50s and 60s) a problem.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2013 11:40

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Lemmi Caution posted:

The Nazis did not quietly change the constitution. It happened in an environment of turmoil largely ginned up by the Nazis themselves.

Mea culpa for my historical brain-fart. The moment I read this the Reichstag fire flashed to mind. It didn't reading Aso's speech. I'm guessing it's because he's talking about not making a lot of fuss and noise at the same time as talking about learning from the Nazis. It looks like we're just looking at another case of Aso failing at message control and knowing his audience (judging by the media response, not mine alone). He'd have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd been a bit more blunt about linking the Nazis with being blustery and noisy. It's very clear that he was attempting to convey that to me now, but not everyone is a student of history like Taro Aso, so, like me, they piece it together minus the necessary allusions. A little less relying upon his audience's knowledge of the Nazi's rise to power and a lot of the misunderstanding, both accidental and deliberate, could have been avoided. I withdraw any statements I made impugning Aso's intelligence.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2013 04:19

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Nonsense posted:

Literally fight any Japanese who claims this.

It's true in the sense that the common man is just a pawn of the powers that be, but, yeah, the war was the fault of the Japanese government, military, and imperial household of the time and gently caress anyone who says otherwise.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2013 02:07

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Spazzle posted:

What about high speed pizza delivery?

You're an alright guy in my book. :thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

# ¿ Sep 15, 2013 15:20

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

VideoTapir posted:

Why sales tax and not income tax or something else progressive?

Is Japan in a wave of "gently caress the poor" right now, too?

Because the workforce is getting ready to shrink like crazy as the median age creeps up towards 50 (44.6 as of 2010). They need to be able to collect tax from retirees if they're going to make a dent, and a consumption tax is probably the only politically feasible way to do that. And it's only barely feasible since all those olds vote.

Mr. Fix It fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Oct 1, 2013

# ¿ Oct 1, 2013 10:23

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Benly posted:

It's like half-elves, you just get a reduced version of each parent's bonuses.

Putting the DnD in D&D :golfclap:

:golfclap:

# ¿ Dec 11, 2013 02:58

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Kenishi posted:

Not Mayor, Governor. So his role isn't as huge. Japan likes the scandals with under the table funds, its what caused a huge shake up in the election reporting system back in the early 90s.

There is no mayor of Tokyo, since there is no Tokyo City. Pretty sure the power situation is different than Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, and that the role is rather big.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 18:26

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Zo posted:

That won't work because Japan is the only country that actually believes (or sets their official stance as) "there is no dispute". It's pretty funny and basically the political equivalent of covering your eyes to make the scary thing disappear.

It's exactly the same as South Korea's stance on Dokdo/Takeshima

# ¿ Jan 21, 2014 11:13

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

anglachel posted:

And yet it has a super high suicide rate. And funnily enough it's a well known execution method for the Yakuza to go up to someone and flat out tell them they either jump of the building themselves or your family joins you.

And the cops apparently LOVE to rule dead bodies as suicide/accident to close the case ASAP. Assuming anyone even finds the body, sense they don't exactly go looking very hard for missing people either. It's almost like it's quite possible that the whole "Japanese suicide" thing might be a bit of myth, and the stats for suicide get padded by what are actually murders.

I would suggest reading Tokyo Vice if you want to get a first hand report from an English speaker who dealt with the Japanese justice system.

Are you actually suggesting that some significant number of the reported suicides in Japan are murders? Even noted story-embellisher Jake Adelstein would say you're full of poo poo.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2014 15:06

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

punk rebel ecks posted:

So for Japanese natives they get reasonable welfare state but for foreigners it's "lol gently caress you!"?

Another anecdote, but I know of at least one foreigner that collected on unemployment insurance. As for my personal experience, I'm covered just fine by the healthcare scheme, and I'm fully enrolled in the pension system.

# ¿ May 10, 2014 16:51

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Speculating, but I'd have to presume that the barrier keeping Netflix out is licensing. The actual value of licensing something for streaming is known now, so the cost will be much higher than when Netflix started out. Couple that with whatever influence Tsutaya et al have on the content producers, and, bam, no Netflix. I think they're going to have to team up with a Tsutaya or a Rakuten or maybe a Sony to get a foothold. It's a real shame too, since the internet infrastructure is so nice and there's actual competition between providers so the potential for Comcast-style rent-seeking BS seems low.

# ¿ May 12, 2014 01:25

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Shinobo posted:

In their defense, I think they meant digital downloads that are PC centric. In that case Steam does lose out....to the services that you mentioned.

I always love that I can walk into a 7-11 and buy a digital code for the latest Dragon Quest on the DS or an actual copy of the game. Try doing that in the tech haven that is America.

Oh snap, buying stuff in a store! HOW WILL AMERICA EVER CATCH UP?!?!?!?!

# ¿ May 12, 2014 03:41

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Shinobo posted:

Look, it's pretty obvious what I meant.

Convenience stores have penetration that borders on the ridiculous there. If you live in an urban area you are no more than a 20 minute WALK from the nearest one, and in country areas no more than a 20 minute bike ride.

Compare that to here. If you want to go to a store that sells games, how far do you have to drive if you live in Nevada? Or Missouri? Or even an actually well developed place like the East Bay?

Japan has brick-and-mortar supremacy in certain areas. End of story.

That's just population density. Head out to sparsely populated areas in Japan and you often don't find nearby convenience stores. Or ones that aren't big chains and don't have the plethora of services that your 7-11s or Lawsons do. And getting hard goods delivered to your door in a day or two and software delivered straight to your devices instantly really trumps retail in most ways. Why are you going to a store for a string of letters and numbers, anyways? Why can't that be delivered to your email inbox?

Oh, and 'here' for me is Japan.

# ¿ May 12, 2014 03:58

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Womacks-JP-23 posted:

Let's put aside that there are a ton of options available in Japan for various types of streaming media (all listed above) - there is absolutely zero market for any kind of downloadable media in the areas of Japan you are talking about.

Unless there's some kind of market for 70 year old grandmas and rice farmers.

So rural areas a doubly under-served? What point are you trying make?

# ¿ May 12, 2014 05:13

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

He's still here mang, and having the time of his life.

# ¿ May 15, 2014 09:51

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

icantfindaname posted:

Based on what I know of Japanese xenophobia and bigotry in general, I guess I don't see how constitutional pacifism is anything more than a technicality. If Japan wanted to go to war that clause would not stop it.

Please, feel free to expand upon this...

# ¿ May 15, 2014 10:41

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Womacks-JP-23 posted:

ITT, people who don't read Japanese newspapers.

Seriously, this story was covered in every single major Japanese newspaper.

And it should have made the evening news. It's an absolute travesty that it didn't.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2014 02:09

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Mercury_Storm posted:

What??? How could this happenn??!

Gambling? In my country? No waaaaaayyyyy!

# ¿ Aug 26, 2014 02:03

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

true.spoon posted:

Just coming back from a trip to Japan I have some questions:
Do you guys know of a book or an article that discusses how the Japanese student body went from being really politically active to being incredibly apolitical? Of course a similar process took place in almost all western countries after the 68th but in Japan the difference seems bigger to me. Is it just individual pressure? Are the universities more hostile to political activity? Is it the utter defeat of the protest movement? Or is my impression wrong? If you have any stuff on that, I'd appreciate it.
Secondly I would like to ask if you know of any research (sociological, political) into the concept of kawaii. I'm mostly interested in kawaii as a tool for social control (even if not consciously directed) but everything would be great.

Unfortunately my Japanese is not good enough to read serious articles, but if you happen to know something that fits very well, I'd take it anyway.

Hahaha, you need to give us the source for this quote. This is "pinku bento box" quality poo poo.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2014 00:33

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Haha, "kawaii" is some sort of sociological nomenclature now? loving bakas.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2014 05:13

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Sirreal posted:

words

Good post. Almost a perfect low-punctuation summary of the Introduction to Modern Japanese Studies course I took at the University of Washington

# ¿ Sep 30, 2014 07:40

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Reverend Cheddar posted:

With Pekkanen? High-five, fellow Husky.

Yeppers. I think the main reason I find Japanese politics enthralling is Pekkanen and that class. My only complaint is that he made us by his wife's book which really wasn't suited to an intro course :eng99:

:eng99:

.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2014 14:23

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 18:52

Mr. Fix It: Oct 26, 2000; 💀ayyy💀

Vagabundo posted:

So apparently a bunch of ministers resigned? Could someone please give us (i.e. me) a quick summary of what happened?

Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi had ~20 million yen* (~$200K) in excess expenses going out for parties with supporters and gifts, and gave ~2 million yen* (~$20K) to a business ran by an in-law. The former looks like giving gifts to voters, which is illegal, and the latter looks like a mix of public and private funds, which probably runs afoul of the law as well.

Justice Minister Midori Matsushima passed out fans with her likeness on them to supporters, which runs afoul of election and political finance laws.

*Numbers are ballpark and off the top of my head from what I've seen in the news here, everything else shows up here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29684631

# ¿ Oct 20, 2014 08:41

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