As promised in our last release, we are back with the Seijigiri year-end special. This double release covers the issues that faced Japan’s political scene over the past 12 months, and evaluates the performance of the Abe and Fukuda administrations. A year ago, co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley both predicted that Abe would not last through 2007 as Prime Minister, and this release includes their discussion of Mr Fukuda’s chances of lasting into 2009.

Other issues touched upon are the lessons of the Abe administration, the potential consequences of last July’s upper house election, how the Democratic Party of Japan fared in 2007, what the DPJ might do in 2008, and the (seemingly) endless string of PR disasters that confronted Japan on the international stage in 2007.

As always, thank you for listening. We managed to release 23 episodes of Seijigiri in 2007, and hope to have many more in the coming year. We would like to once again take the time to thank Adam Richards of the Mutant Frog Travelogue and Tobias Harris of Observing Japan for each appearing as guest co-host twice in 2007. In addition, Debito Arudo appeared as a guest commentator on two episodes of Seijigiri in 2007, and his upper house election predictions were the most accurate we had seen. We hope to have them all back in the coming year!

We promise to be back soon with our preview for Japan’s political scene for 2008.

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It’s the end of the year, and nothing could sum up Japan’s biggest business stories of 2007 better than sorting them into a top ten list - except for sorting them into a top seven list and discussing them here on BizCast.

Along with a few honorable mentions, co-hosts Albrecht Stahmer and Ken Worsley discuss Krispy Kreme, Nintendo’s domination of the video game market, Burger King, Fast Retailing’s failed bid for Barney’s, the collapse in housing starts, WiMax, Toyota outselling General Motors in the first quarter of 2007, Japan’s demographic crunch, bad fiscal policy, Nova’s bankruptcy, corporate governance, scandals in the food industry, Steel Partners, J-SOX, the widening gap between income in urban and rural Japan, the Mega Mac, Triangular Mergers, the increase in land prices, Sony’s new war chest, and Scott Callon’s shareholder revolt.

Which made the top 7 of ‘07? You’ll have to listen to find out. This special double release clocks in just under 70 minutes.

Alby and Ken would like to express many thanks to everyone who has listened to the first ten episodes of BizCast Japan this year. We’ll be back again in January, and we’re sure the business news will stay just as exciting to follow, analyze and discuss.

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(Read on …)

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 'Twas the Night Before Christmas: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“The Fir Tree”

By Hans Christian Andersen

Read by Christopher Pellegrini

Far away in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh air made a sweet resting place, grew a pretty little fir tree. The situation was all that could be desired; and yet it was not happy, it wished so much to be like its tall companions, the pines and firs which grew around it.

The sun shone, and the soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little peasant children passed by, prattling merrily; but the fir tree did not heed them.

Sometimes the children would bring a large basket of raspberries or strawberries, wreathed in straws, and seat themselves near the fir tree, and say, “Is it not a pretty little tree?” which made it feel even more unhappy than before.

(Read on …)

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“Our Christmas present to you is the new Christmas classic of our time, Miracle on 34th Street.

“It’s wrapped in a gay covering of laughter, tied with a bright ribbon of good humor, and decorated with the three sparkling stars of the 20th Century Fox picture: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn.”

Last year, TPR brought you the story that created our image of the Christmas spirit. This year, we’ll bring you the poem that created our modern image of Santa Claus. And now, TPR gives you the modern classic story that put those two things together - Santa Claus as Kris Kringle the man, who tells us that Christmas is not a day, but a spirit we carry with us everywhere, everyday. These days, it seems hackneyed, but it was less so when the Lux Radio Theater broadcast it’s version of Miracle on 34th Street in 1948.

Starring Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn, in an Oscar-winning turn as Kris Kringle. Seriously. The real one.

And just because we here at TPR wish you all a Merry Christmas, we’re bringing you not one, but two different old time radio versions of Miracle on 34th Street starring Edmund Gwenn. The other, the Screen Director’s Playhouse version of 1949, is available here.

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After winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a Macy’s Santa Claus named Kris Kringle in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, Edmund Gwenn reprised the role on the Lux Radio Theater in 1948 (also available from TPR), then again in the 1949 Screen Director’s Playhouse presentation TPR brings you here.

Fans of this classic Christmas story will notice that both the Lux version and this one differ not only from each other, but from the original film itself.

Merry Christmas.

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 Miracle on 34th Street: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

DEBITO.ORG NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 19, 2007

1) Debito’s latest Japan Times Column, which came out on December 18, on the beginning of the end: How Japan’s xenophobia and closed-mindedness towards the outside world is now clearly not only hurting non-Japanese residents, but also destroying Japan for everyone - putting its very position as Asia’s leader and representative in jeopardy.

2) James Fallows of the Atlantic Monthly writes more poignantly and succinctly on what’s wrong with fingerprinting at Japan’s border than Debito could ever hope to.

3) TV personality and music aficionado Peter Barakan is attacked by an unknown assailant in public–he and his hosts at a speech are pepper-sprayed, in a clearly-planned assault with even a rented getaway car. Even though the police track down the car, the spray,
and even a person inside, no arrests are made!

Twenty-five minutes. As always, Duran Duran and Tangerine Dream excerpts are included to soothe.

The full newsletter (and much, much more) is available at debito.org.

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Over at one of our favorite blogs, What Japan Thinks, Ken Y-N has organized a contest to determine the best (or at least most voted-for) Japan Blogs of the Year in various categories. (Read on …)

December 18th

On this day in 1947, the massive Zaibatsu, who ran the prewar and wartime economy of Japan (as well as, possibly, large parts of the government) were broken up by GHQ.
But also. . .

On this day in 1956, Japan’s membership in the United Nations was officially accepted. While Japan was already facing pressure from the US to renege on its Article 9 pledge to renounce war and its accoutrements, and there was no shortage of hostility against the country left over from World War II, Japan’s accession to the UN was apparently not hotly contested.

In order to join the UN, a country must be recommended by the Security Council, approved by the General Assembly, and agree to abide by the requirements of the United Nations Charter. Potential political obstacles to Japanese membership in the UN - mainly the objections of China or other victims of Japan’s wartime aggression - were rendered null by the San Francisco Treaty of 1952, which officially ended World War II. In it, its author, John Foster Dulles, included a clause requiring all signatories of the Treaty to not only not oppose Japan’s membership in the UN, but support and promote it. Chinese opposition was rendered moot by the facts that UN membership is decided by the General Assembly, not the UNSC, and that China’s seat, at the time, was held by the Republic of China, or Taiwan, not by the People’s Republic of China.

Japan’s membership in the UN was not only a part of the country’s postwar recovery and rise in international stature, but also in line with a turn towards greater independence in foreign policy (Read on …)

In this edition of TPR News: The Diet session is extended again; the pension fiasco worsens as the LDP admits there is no chance it will live up to its campaign promise to sort it out by March; Tokyo hands a wad of cash to the countryside; Fukuda fails to explain fingerprinting; Japan drops a bit in OECD student assessments; the phrase of the year is chosen; milk prices go up and are joined by wholesale prices; there are too many suburban homes on the market; and consumer confidence is down.

Politics

The biggest political news of late has been the not entirely surprising decision by the ruling coalition, and approval by the Lower House, to extend the already extended Diet session again. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of the Liberal Democratic Party and Akihiro Ota of the New Komeito agreed to keep the extended extraordinary Diet session going until January 15th in order to use the Lower House’s supermajority to override the likely Upper House rejection of the bill to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Forces’ refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, the Prime Minister having already assured NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that he was trying to get the mission restarted as soon as possible.

The extension will not only mean that there will be virtually no break before the beginning of the ordinary Diet session, but also that the Upper House, controlled by the opposition Democratic Party, will likely pass a non-binding censure motion against the Prime Minister in an attempt to force him to call a snap election. While an early general election would probably be bad news for the LDP, it could very well spell disaster for the New Komeito, hence the junior coalition partner’s insistence upon assurances from Fukuda that he will not call for elections. (Read on …)

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