In this edition of TPR News, we cover a range of political ground, touching on the situation surrounding Yanagisawa Hakuo’s remarks, his actions in the diet, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s popularity ratings, US Vice President Dick Cheney’s upcoming visit, Shintaro Ishihara’s comments as filtered by William Pesek, who’s working and how much for the Yakuza, and a bit on the whaling controversy…

Politics

Fallout continues over the recent remarks made by Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Yanagisawa Hakuo. At first, Mr Yanagisawa referred to women as “birth-giving machines,” and he later remarked that “healthy couples” should want to have two children. His words have led to strong censure and calls for his resignation from the opposition parties, and a growing feeling that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe simply failed to choose the best people available for his cabinet positions when he became Prime Minister back in September.

A recent Japan Times editorial echoes what was said on the most recent release of TPR’s Seijigiri program, and asserted that Mr Yanagisawa’s comments do not construe a mere ‘gaffe,’ but rather betray a lack of connection with the citizens of this country, and especially with those who are of the child-bearing age. An excerpt:

Yanagisawa’s ailment seems to lie in his heart and mind. It is a part of what makes the man the man, so to speak. What we are experiencing through his unfortunate remarks seems to be a glimpse into the man’s deep-rooted convictions. This is what makes this whole thing so frightening. What would otherwise be a farce is shaping up to be quite a serious tragedy. For it is indeed tragic when we have people in positions of responsibility whose convictions seem so apparently to be at odds with intellectual soundness and integrity of values.

Another observer, Kazuhisa Kawakami, a political science professor at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, put it as follows:

Yanagisawa’s comment sparked deep distrust among women, causing them to question whether, as the man tasked with addressing the falling birthrate, he sincerely means to solve the problem. Such distrust is going to build up like magma.

At a diet session observed by TPR’s Garrett DeOrio this week, when asked “I was just wondering if he would tell us why a healthy couple should want at least two children? Why does having two children make a couple healthy?” by former NHK announcer and current DPJ lawmaker Komiyama Youko, Yanigasawa responded by turning his back and mumbling, “もういいんじゃない？” - or, “Isn’t it enough already?” waving his hand dismissively and storming out of the chamber.

It bears mentioning that at least in the English side of the media, the Yomiuri has dropped news concerning the situation with Yanagisawa from its coverage, with its last listed story including the name ‘Yanagisawa’ in its headline published on January 31st.

A moment ago we quoted Professor Kawakami’s comments on the Yanagisawa incident. Professor Kawakami actually had a bit more to say, concerning the status of Prime Minister Abe’s cabinet: “It looks like Abe’s Cabinet holds a big bomb that could explode any time.” Kawakami believes that Abe could “defuse this bomb” by firing Yanagisawa, but this observer is not so sure about that.

At any rate, attacks on Abe’s cabinet selections have come this week from a much more powerful, well known and respected source. In a recent editorial entitled Shinzo Abe at a crossroads, former Prime Minister Yashuhiro Nakasone described Mr Abe’s cabinet selections:

The plummeting popularity may be ascribed largely to failures in Abe’s selection of Cabinet ministers and party executives. He appointed a number of his longtime friends as well as those who had contributed materially to his election as president of the Liberal Democratic Party. The prime minister’s office and the Cabinet are packed with some of “the best students in class” who enjoy Abe’s favor. There are no politicians in the true sense of the word. (bold added)

The former Prime Minister criticized more than just Mr Abe’s cabinet selections. Regarding the Prime Minister’s performance to date, he stated:

Also to blame is the way Abe is handling his political agenda. His key policies lack appeal because he hasn’t explained them in detail. The goals are clearly declared, but the steps to achieve them are absent. He is long on rhetoric and short on substance. Abe calls for constitutional reform, but it is unclear how he will deliver on that campaign promise — a factor that has contributed to his falling approval ratings.

And fall they have. Given the most recent poll numbers, Mr Abe’s approval ratings (which you can keep an eye on at our Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Approval Ratings Tracker page) look something like this:

Most Recent Poll Results

US Vice President Dick Cheney is set to visit Japan next week, and is expected to meet with Prime Minister Abe and Foreign Minister Aso Taro. However, recent reports state that the US has requested that Cheney not have a meeting set up with Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, who sparked anger in the US government with his recent comments that the US was wrong to go to war in Iraq and that it did not have a post-war gameplan for reconstruction of the country. Kyuma has also criticized US plans for base realignment in Japan. After his comments caused ripples in the US government, Kyuma attempted to back peddle, claiming that they were translated poorly. As we have pointed out on TPR News, not only were they translated loosely, but Kyuma actually sounded worse than the translations give him credit for.

Thanks to Japan Probe for bringing our attention to this story: The central government on Friday “approved a bill that will provide billions of yen a year in subsidies to local governments–depending on how far they have cooperated with realignment plans for the U.S. military.” The bill falls in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts at strengthening the Japan-US security agreement, and earmarks 5.1 billion yen in the government’s fiscal 2007 budget proposal for the subsidies.

Once again, Adamu at the Mutant Frog Travelogue has caught our attention with his piece on the “triangle of shadiness” created by the relationship that exists amongst the central government, local newspapers and advertising giant Dentsu. Adamu sources from a Japanese language Asahi Shimbun piece, which has not yet been translated into English. As Adamu points out, this piece could be translated once Monday’s newspaper holiday is over, so keep your eyes open for an English version. We’ll do the same…

This next item may not be brand new, but it’s well worth a mention: Over at the National Police Agency’s website, you can read a copy of their report entitled Adverse Activities over Japanese National Interests in the Fields of Advanced Science and Technology, which was last updated on December 18, 2006. For some reason, the pdf links do not appear to be working. We at TPR wonder if the report on China might be updated now that China has managed to shoot one of its own low-orbiting satellites out of the sky.

And, in an article published just minutes ago, Bloomberg’s William Pesek makes a strong point that Japan needs to attract more talent and a more highly educated immigrant workforce to its shores, and may need to rely on such immigrants to help boost its birth rate. Pesek quotes recent comments from an interview with Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro, in which the city’s chief said, “The country should take it upon itself to adopt an immigration policy. This is not a question of procuring a labor supply. We should be letting in more people who are intelligent.” Ishihara’s comments, however, do not seem to be born of any desire to actually allow more foreign residents or workers in Japan, but rather out of xenophobia. One quote from the above interview that was left out included Ishihara saying:

Why don’t you go to Roppongi? It’s now virtually a foreign neighborhood. Africans - I don’t mean African-Americans - who don’t speak English are there doing who knows what.

In this observer’s opinion, it’s comments such as the above that demonstrate how clueless our Governor truly is. The Africans working in Roppongi speak English quite well - they may not speak it amongst themselves, but isn’t that to be expected? Is Ishihara going to claim that some Europeans don’t speak English because they speak German or Italian amongst themselves? And - an even better question - what does English ability have to do with judging someone? Can Japan only find a use for immigrants who can speak English? This seems to ignore the central point that this is Japan, where Japanese is spoken, and those move here to work should be learning that language. Moreover, what many of those gentlemen are doing is plain as day - just walk anywhere near them and they will approach you and invite you to their club. It is literally impossible to walk down Gaien Higashi Dori in Roppongi and not be invited to at least five clubs. Has Ishihara actually been there and seen it for his own eyes (and I don’t mean from his limousine)?

And what of the Six-Party Talks? They’re still ongoing, but as Professor Robert Angel of the Japan Considered project stated in his most recent podcast, we just may never know exactly what has gone on in the negotiations. In his podcast, Professor Angel gives a good summary of the ‘memorandum’ spat that has gone on in the Japanese media, with initial reports from Beijing claiming that the US and North Korea had signed a memorandum in Berlin last month. The Yomiuri Shimbun published an article stating that US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill had denied the signing of any such document, and claimed that the information had been provided by a source, “close to North Korea.” Please listen to Professor Angel’s podcast for more information.

We still see the media with mixed news on the results of the Six Party Talks, with the Asahi reporting that, “officials in Tokyo hinted Japan is open to providing indirect energy and economic assistance to Pyongyang,” and, “In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Japan would provide indirect assistance if progress was made on the nuclear weapons development program.”

On the same day, Mainichi News reported this headline: “Aso says Tokyo not planning to give aid to North Korea at this stage.” We aim to have a special edition of Seijigiri out as soon as the talks are over and we are able to digest whatever information (or disinformation) we can.

Although this should more properly be listed in the ‘Society’ section, due to the length of this political section, we will not have a society portion of the news this time. So, here it is:

Thanks to Debito Arudo for bringing to our attention a recent Economist piece on the Japanese justice system. It is an excellent read and one of the first times that we have seen issues related to Japan’s judicial system discussed at length in the foreign press.

Business and the Economy

A few weeks ago, it was reported that wages in Japan had fallen 0.6% in December 2006 compared to December of the previous year. For 2006 overall, the average wage increased 0.1%. It was also noted that during the third quarter of 2006, Japan’s corporate profits increased by 15.5%. In the face of those statistics, Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) President Tsuyoshi Takagi has announced that Rengo will be seeking a pay packet increase in the upcoming Spring wage negotiations. In a recent statement, Takagi described the Japan’s wage situation as follows:

Last year’s pay hikes were not enough to correct the distortions of wealth distribution…Most companies have their tanks filled with water, but the tap is running only for the shareholders and executives while the faucet for households is turned off. What (management) should do first is turn the faucet on…Social security payments are increasing . . . and workers have seen an overall decline in disposable income.

Along those lines, it has been reported by the Nikkei that Japanese firms intend to pay higher starting salaries to their incoming workers this spring, as they scramble to compete against each other for better workers.

A recent Japan Times piece pointed out that the Yakuza, Japan’s crime gangs, now employ more part-time than full-time workers. It was noted by several bloggers that the Yakuza appear to be ahead of their compatriots in the legal corporate world in terms of business trends that shape Japan. Some of those discussed this story in more detail are Jun Okumura, in a piece entitled As Japan, Inc. Goes, So Goes Yakuza, Inc. at his GlobalTalk 21 blog, The Left Flank Blog in a piece entitled Bad Guys and Self-Image, and your correspondent in a recent piece entitled Yakuza part-timers now outnumber full-time employees at Japan Economy News and Blog.

Japanese whaling has been all over the news, and especially the foreign news, over the past week. Japan Times ran a special on the whaling industry, broken into three parts: Japan and the whaling ban, Siege mentality fuels ’sustainability’ claims, and Vitriol vies with science.

Reuters has published two pieces on whaling: Key facts about whaling in Japan, and Japan pushes whaling as customers’ appetite fades. In other articles, Japan brands anti-whaling group terrorists at icWales, Frustrated Japan pushes for return to commercial whaling at the Independent UK, Anti-whaling group rams Japanese off Antarctica at Radio Australia, and Japan set to push for commercial whaling amid growing divide in global body

The Last Word

This week, I’m going to use my “Last Word” space to talk a bit about some of the recent links we have added to our sidebar. First is Digital World Tokyo, a site that tracks some of the more interesting tech news and new product releases coming out of Japan. It has a clean, easy to read layout and some of the cutest mascots of any blog I’ve seen. Site maintainer J Mark Lytle has big things in the works, which he described to us in a recent email:

Digital World Tokyo is a tech news site for now, but watch out for a
more community-driven portal in a couple of weeks that will highlight
anything and everything worth discussing about Japan in general.
Anyone interested in a forum to fulminate about baby machines, rockets
from Kim Jong-il, USB humping dogs and more should get in touch with
the site’s owner, Mark, at jml (at) digitalworldtokyo (dot) com.

I, Shingen is another site that we’ve recently added to the blogroll. Shingen is a graduate student in the UK who is focusing his studies on Japan’s strategy and foreign policy, and has a keen interest in the Japan/DPRK abduction issue. He described his blog to me as, “Part of my attempt (as a Masters student) to research Japanese international relations. It is a journey of discovery and maturation, exploring not only my research and academic activities, but also my interest in East Asia more broadly.” If that sounds good to you, go and have a look…

Thanks to Professor Robert Angel, the creator and maintainer of the Japan Considered podcast, for introducing the world to the Duke University’s Electronic Resources for Japanese Studies homepage, which boasts a plethora of links to online information sources involving Japanese news and events. The site is maintained by Professor Kristina Troost, who is the head of Duke University’s International Areas and Study Library. Professor Troost stated, “The website was created initially because I was teaching a class for graduate students, and the class was conceived of as very broadly interdisciplinary…It doesn’t matter whether you’re a historian and you need to look up a law in Japan, or you’re an anthropologist.”

Another recently added must-read is The Marmot’s Hole, a blog concerned mainly, but not entirely, with events related to Korea and life in that nation. For those looking to get a bit more perspective on the East Asia region in general, this is a good place to start, with engaging, well-written entries covering a range of topics. At the Marmot’s Hole, site maintainer Robert Koehler, a ten year resident of South Korea, has this to say:

If you’re using this blog as your primary window on Korea—-and I pray to God you aren’t—then I beg you to reconsider. Likewise, if you know nothing about Korea, you probably shouldn’t be reading this blog unless you want to develop an extremely skewed view of the country. Want to get an idea of what Korea is like? Go to Korea.net. Or better yet, make the hard-working boys and girls at the Korea Tourism Organization happy and actually visit the country. It’s a beautiful, exciting and—especially important in these chaotic times—safe place with a rich culture and friendly people.

Robert, If the news in Japan stays like this, I just might take you up on that offer…

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