To quote:
"There are anomalies. Steve 'Freakonomics' Levitt and sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh calculated that Chicago drug dealers seemed to value their entire lives at $50,000 to $100,000—low indeed, even for poor young men whose career choice indicates a taste for risks."
Can you spot the error? Multiple errors, actually.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Japan: What Do I think of Prime Minister Abe's Trip to the US?
Since you asked… No, really.
A success, that's what. Mr. Abe accomplished about as much he could have hoped for. As I had said before, contrary to the composite wishes of the LAT editorial board and other voices in the AMSM, the Japanese government did not issue an apology and the Emperor did not issue an apology, and demonstrators greeted Mr. Abe. Nevertheless, he received President Bush's blessings, and, much more significantly as a non-gimmie, seems to have received the understanding of the Congressional leadership, including Nancy Pelosi (and when have you seen President Bush and Speaker Pelosi not clash on any political issue?)
Like it or not, Mr. Abe got the issue out of his way. Now, all he has to do is to remember not to induge his penchant to overexplain. Come to think of it, Mssrs. Kyuma, Matsuoka, Yanagisawa, Omi, Shizaki, et al, have been uncommonly quiet of late. Given Mr. Abe's bedrock support (people genuinely don't dislike him), and the general public confidence in the performance of the economy, I think he has turned the corner. Whether it's a 90-degree turn or a 180 I have no idea. But you may not have been so off the mark after all, Ian.
Back to work.
A success, that's what. Mr. Abe accomplished about as much he could have hoped for. As I had said before, contrary to the composite wishes of the LAT editorial board and other voices in the AMSM, the Japanese government did not issue an apology and the Emperor did not issue an apology, and demonstrators greeted Mr. Abe. Nevertheless, he received President Bush's blessings, and, much more significantly as a non-gimmie, seems to have received the understanding of the Congressional leadership, including Nancy Pelosi (and when have you seen President Bush and Speaker Pelosi not clash on any political issue?)
Like it or not, Mr. Abe got the issue out of his way. Now, all he has to do is to remember not to induge his penchant to overexplain. Come to think of it, Mssrs. Kyuma, Matsuoka, Yanagisawa, Omi, Shizaki, et al, have been uncommonly quiet of late. Given Mr. Abe's bedrock support (people genuinely don't dislike him), and the general public confidence in the performance of the economy, I think he has turned the corner. Whether it's a 90-degree turn or a 180 I have no idea. But you may not have been so off the mark after all, Ian.
Back to work.
America: Ex-CIA Officials Speak Out over George Tenet's New Book, and THEY ARE FURIOUS.
Was it Charles Barkley who said of his autobiography when questioned about a typically outrageous quote, I don't know, I haven't read the book?
Read this. It's an open letter from ex-CIA officials taking George Tenet to task for betraying CIA officers and analysts and failing to meet his obligations to the people of the United States and urging him "to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President George Bush [I didn't say that, they did] and "dedicate a significant percentage of the royalties from your book to the U.S. soldiers and their families who have been killed and wounded in Iraq." (But not to Iraqis... I know, it's none of my business)
People seem to be uniformly furious about this. A friend of mine who works in Washington brought it up the other day unbidden, told me he'd never been so angry like this before, and wanted to know what I thought. To save time, I asked him to read my blog.
Harder to fathom, though, is why George Tenet decided to do this in the first place. This is not an O.J. Simpson, or an Apprentice flameout we are talking about here. Is destroying your reputation and cutting your ties to your former colleagues and everybody else that you want to have come to your funeral worth the million dollars, give or take a few (million)? Is he going through a rough divorce? Did he borrow money and put it all on Enron?
And if he blames in on his book agent, tell him there's a couple of bridges in Nigeria I'd like to sell him.
For those of you who get your news exclusively from this blog, I lifted it off this CNN post.
Read this. It's an open letter from ex-CIA officials taking George Tenet to task for betraying CIA officers and analysts and failing to meet his obligations to the people of the United States and urging him "to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President George Bush [I didn't say that, they did] and "dedicate a significant percentage of the royalties from your book to the U.S. soldiers and their families who have been killed and wounded in Iraq." (But not to Iraqis... I know, it's none of my business)
People seem to be uniformly furious about this. A friend of mine who works in Washington brought it up the other day unbidden, told me he'd never been so angry like this before, and wanted to know what I thought. To save time, I asked him to read my blog.
Harder to fathom, though, is why George Tenet decided to do this in the first place. This is not an O.J. Simpson, or an Apprentice flameout we are talking about here. Is destroying your reputation and cutting your ties to your former colleagues and everybody else that you want to have come to your funeral worth the million dollars, give or take a few (million)? Is he going through a rough divorce? Did he borrow money and put it all on Enron?
And if he blames in on his book agent, tell him there's a couple of bridges in Nigeria I'd like to sell him.
For those of you who get your news exclusively from this blog, I lifted it off this CNN post.
America: If Any of This SectarianTrashing of the Iraqi Security Forces Are True, Then Mr.Bush Is Wasting Other People's Time, among Other Things
Would you care to read this WaPo article? If you don't, the headline and the subtitle:
"Maliki's Office Is Seen Behind Purge in Forces
Some Commanders Had Pursued Militias"
say it all. They are, if anything, an understatement. The allegations, some of it coming from US officers quoted by name and rank, make the US Attorney General's office look saintly by comparison. If true, the "surge", whatever it manages to do tactically, is doomed. And it won't matter if David Petraeus is as good a soldier as everyone claims.
"Maliki's Office Is Seen Behind Purge in Forces
Some Commanders Had Pursued Militias"
say it all. They are, if anything, an understatement. The allegations, some of it coming from US officers quoted by name and rank, make the US Attorney General's office look saintly by comparison. If true, the "surge", whatever it manages to do tactically, is doomed. And it won't matter if David Petraeus is as good a soldier as everyone claims.
Japan: Iraq Continues to Take the Wind Out of Constitutional Amendment
Yes, the story is a little old, but it looks like I'll never get around to writing that long piece on…
The Yomiuri has been conducting polls on constitutional amendment for a long time. Support for amendment increased steadily until it crested in 2004, but has fallen every year since.
The article says that "as constitutional amendment has taken on an air of reality, it appears that some people among amendment supporters have emerged who want to watch carefully movements concerning amendment (ed. My translation).*" I know, the explanation looks fishy in Japanese as well. The Yomiuri has been staunchly pro-amendment, so the much longer hard copy article didn't shed much light on the reason either. But I think I know why: it's Iraq.
Remember how the majority of the Japanese public opposed sending troops to Iraq, but Prime Minister Koizumi went and did it anyway? But when three Japanese working for NGOs were taken hostage (later released unharmed), there was little outcry gainst our JSDF presence there, or even, for that matter, much sympathy for the victims. (It didn't help that it appeared that some of them were seen as leftists more interested in tallying political scores.) And when one reckless Japanese man was taken hostage and later beheaded, even the pacifist and somewhat leftish Asahi opined in its editorial to the effect that that was no time to consider acceding to the insurgent's demands and packing it in. The Japanese people, collectively speaking, even some parts that opposed Mr. Koizumi, was proud of our soldiers.
We have the Australians to thank for getting them all back safe and sound, so there are no stories about mounting casualties. (Iraqis don't matter; we're no better than you.) Still, the years of civil war have taken their toll. As Fumio "I was against the war on Iraq, now I'm for it" Kyuma, our Defense Minister, has admitted (and many others in the LDP will admit), the nuclear umbrella is the main reason Japan continues to stand by the US when the chips are down. And looking to the future, some people are surely thinking, it might not be such a bad thing after all to have an excuse against being so out front when the US comes a-calling for collective self-defense.
The pro-amendment Yomiuri, it seems, does not want to connect the dots here.
*憲法改正が現実味を帯びてきたことで、これまでの改正賛成派の中に改正の動きを慎重に見守りたいとする人が出てきていると見られる。
The Yomiuri has been conducting polls on constitutional amendment for a long time. Support for amendment increased steadily until it crested in 2004, but has fallen every year since.
The article says that "as constitutional amendment has taken on an air of reality, it appears that some people among amendment supporters have emerged who want to watch carefully movements concerning amendment (ed. My translation).*" I know, the explanation looks fishy in Japanese as well. The Yomiuri has been staunchly pro-amendment, so the much longer hard copy article didn't shed much light on the reason either. But I think I know why: it's Iraq.
Remember how the majority of the Japanese public opposed sending troops to Iraq, but Prime Minister Koizumi went and did it anyway? But when three Japanese working for NGOs were taken hostage (later released unharmed), there was little outcry gainst our JSDF presence there, or even, for that matter, much sympathy for the victims. (It didn't help that it appeared that some of them were seen as leftists more interested in tallying political scores.) And when one reckless Japanese man was taken hostage and later beheaded, even the pacifist and somewhat leftish Asahi opined in its editorial to the effect that that was no time to consider acceding to the insurgent's demands and packing it in. The Japanese people, collectively speaking, even some parts that opposed Mr. Koizumi, was proud of our soldiers.
We have the Australians to thank for getting them all back safe and sound, so there are no stories about mounting casualties. (Iraqis don't matter; we're no better than you.) Still, the years of civil war have taken their toll. As Fumio "I was against the war on Iraq, now I'm for it" Kyuma, our Defense Minister, has admitted (and many others in the LDP will admit), the nuclear umbrella is the main reason Japan continues to stand by the US when the chips are down. And looking to the future, some people are surely thinking, it might not be such a bad thing after all to have an excuse against being so out front when the US comes a-calling for collective self-defense.
The pro-amendment Yomiuri, it seems, does not want to connect the dots here.
*憲法改正が現実味を帯びてきたことで、これまでの改正賛成派の中に改正の動きを慎重に見守りたいとする人が出てきていると見られる。
Saturday, April 28, 2007
America: Stop Talking about Hillary Clinton's Accent
This is about as fair as it gets in the MSM when it comes to the story about her accent shifting with the audience. Still, the writer has to get a dig in, with this:
"But observers have long noted her tendency to speak Southern primarily in front of black audiences, as she did with Sharpton last week and at a civil rights commemoration in Selma in March.
"All the Democrats are vying for the support of black voters _ a crucial constituency especially in the early voting state of South Carolina. In 2004, black voters comprised nearly 50 percent of the state's Democratic primary turnout.
"
Ah, insinuation: the first, second, and last refuge of the lazy journalist. For what is the typical palaver of the Mr. African-American Everyman if it is not the legacy of the slavery that flourished in the South and the segregation that continued well after the Civil War? There is a reason Al Sharpton does not talk like Mike Bloomberg.
Polyglots unconsciously adopt the speech patterns of whatever linguistic group he/she is conversing with. If anything, Hillary showed an uncalculating empathy, something that she has often been accused of lacking.
"But observers have long noted her tendency to speak Southern primarily in front of black audiences, as she did with Sharpton last week and at a civil rights commemoration in Selma in March.
"All the Democrats are vying for the support of black voters _ a crucial constituency especially in the early voting state of South Carolina. In 2004, black voters comprised nearly 50 percent of the state's Democratic primary turnout.
"
Ah, insinuation: the first, second, and last refuge of the lazy journalist. For what is the typical palaver of the Mr. African-American Everyman if it is not the legacy of the slavery that flourished in the South and the segregation that continued well after the Civil War? There is a reason Al Sharpton does not talk like Mike Bloomberg.
Polyglots unconsciously adopt the speech patterns of whatever linguistic group he/she is conversing with. If anything, Hillary showed an uncalculating empathy, something that she has often been accused of lacking.
Friday, April 27, 2007
North Korea: The Abduction Saga Continues with an Arrest Warrant. So Who Wants to Know?
Unless you are nuts about Japan (which you must be, if you're reading this blog, c'mon), you have missed the biggest long-running JMSM story over the last couple of months, which is the revelation of a probable double murder of a Japanese-North Korean couple, and the abduction of their two small children by North Korean agents headquartered in Tokyo, which has culminated in an arrest warrant for a prime suspect, likely living in North Korea.
Now, I know from my experience in New York in 2001 that the response from across the pond will be: What about the nuclear issue/(and now) the comfort women? And indeed I myself have had such thoughts. But, as hard as it is for some (including yours truly) to believe, I am Japanese. And from that perspective, I realize that the abductee issue does not matter to you because it's about us, not you. It's the same story with Iraq; for you, it's about your soldiers dying, not the Iraqi civilian casualties. It's Us, and The Others, as far back in history as you can see. Empathy, like the weak force, diminishes greatly with distance.
So, with that note, Happy Golden Week!
Something the foreign MSM will focus on, if they ever get around to it, is something I too cannot understand. It's the timing of the reinvigorated investigation, as well as the way information has been strung out week after week. After all, it's been more than thirty years since it happened. Conspiracy theorists will undoubtedly have a ball speculating over the political motives that may have gone into this renewed interest. But that is one of the least of my concern these days.
Now, I know from my experience in New York in 2001 that the response from across the pond will be: What about the nuclear issue/(and now) the comfort women? And indeed I myself have had such thoughts. But, as hard as it is for some (including yours truly) to believe, I am Japanese. And from that perspective, I realize that the abductee issue does not matter to you because it's about us, not you. It's the same story with Iraq; for you, it's about your soldiers dying, not the Iraqi civilian casualties. It's Us, and The Others, as far back in history as you can see. Empathy, like the weak force, diminishes greatly with distance.
So, with that note, Happy Golden Week!
Something the foreign MSM will focus on, if they ever get around to it, is something I too cannot understand. It's the timing of the reinvigorated investigation, as well as the way information has been strung out week after week. After all, it's been more than thirty years since it happened. Conspiracy theorists will undoubtedly have a ball speculating over the political motives that may have gone into this renewed interest. But that is one of the least of my concern these days.
America: I Can Feel Tony Allen Can Feel Mr. Tenet's Pain
Sorry to be in the mood for trivia…
If you think slamdunks can be detrimental to your career, just ask Tony Allen of the Boston Celtics. According to Mark Murphy of the Boston Globe, "[a]fter scoring a career-high 30 points against Denver on Dec. 15, he averaged 21 points on 55.7 percent shooting and 5.5 rebounds during a seven-game stretch from Dec. 29 through Jan. 10. The latter date is infamous. That's when Allen attempted a gratuitous dunk after the whistle and tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee." This is the second serious knee injury in his career, and no one knows if he will ever regain the explosive athleticism with which he had earned a place in the Celtics starting line-up. If he doesn't, he will be just another earthbound, undersized, under-experienced shooting guard, the last thing the Celtics, or, for that matter, the NBA, need. His career is very much up in the air as he endures a long rehab.
But Mr. Allen has it easy compared to George Tenet. You see, Mr. Tenet, if you will believe him (and I see no reason not to do so), has already seen his entire career go down the drain, all because of a silly slamdunk. And it only happened because that vice president of the errant shooting eye mangled his metaphor (IT WASN’T EVEN A REAL DUNK!) beyond all recognition. Oh, I can just imagine Mr. Tenet protesting, to no avail, with Mssrs. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Mme. Rice, indeed anyone who would listen, including the president himself, that his remarks were being misused in the prosecution of a policy with which he vehemently disagreed. And because of this, five years later, he finds himself unemployable. No wonder he feels compelled to resort to this confessional, to launch a career as a vice-president critic. I cannot wait for the book.
Yes, I feel for Mr. Tenet. I feel for him so much, that I will not begrudge his keeping that Presidential Medal of Freedom that was so graciously draped around his neck by the president himself. After all, if Mr. Allen is going to get to keep his $1.87 million for 2007-2008 whether or not he ever plays another game in the NBA (even though he has no one but himself to blame for his latest misfortune), then surely Mr. Tenet should be allowed to hold on to a mere tin-star keepsake from his glory days in the White House.
And thank you, Stephen G. Esq., for lending me Bambi vs. Godzilla by David Mamet. I can actually hear faint echoes of Mr. Mamet's voice and even politics (Mr. Shallow, that's my name) in this admittedly aeasthetically inferior piece of scribbling, I do.
If you think slamdunks can be detrimental to your career, just ask Tony Allen of the Boston Celtics. According to Mark Murphy of the Boston Globe, "[a]fter scoring a career-high 30 points against Denver on Dec. 15, he averaged 21 points on 55.7 percent shooting and 5.5 rebounds during a seven-game stretch from Dec. 29 through Jan. 10. The latter date is infamous. That's when Allen attempted a gratuitous dunk after the whistle and tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee." This is the second serious knee injury in his career, and no one knows if he will ever regain the explosive athleticism with which he had earned a place in the Celtics starting line-up. If he doesn't, he will be just another earthbound, undersized, under-experienced shooting guard, the last thing the Celtics, or, for that matter, the NBA, need. His career is very much up in the air as he endures a long rehab.
But Mr. Allen has it easy compared to George Tenet. You see, Mr. Tenet, if you will believe him (and I see no reason not to do so), has already seen his entire career go down the drain, all because of a silly slamdunk. And it only happened because that vice president of the errant shooting eye mangled his metaphor (IT WASN’T EVEN A REAL DUNK!) beyond all recognition. Oh, I can just imagine Mr. Tenet protesting, to no avail, with Mssrs. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Mme. Rice, indeed anyone who would listen, including the president himself, that his remarks were being misused in the prosecution of a policy with which he vehemently disagreed. And because of this, five years later, he finds himself unemployable. No wonder he feels compelled to resort to this confessional, to launch a career as a vice-president critic. I cannot wait for the book.
Yes, I feel for Mr. Tenet. I feel for him so much, that I will not begrudge his keeping that Presidential Medal of Freedom that was so graciously draped around his neck by the president himself. After all, if Mr. Allen is going to get to keep his $1.87 million for 2007-2008 whether or not he ever plays another game in the NBA (even though he has no one but himself to blame for his latest misfortune), then surely Mr. Tenet should be allowed to hold on to a mere tin-star keepsake from his glory days in the White House.
And thank you, Stephen G. Esq., for lending me Bambi vs. Godzilla by David Mamet. I can actually hear faint echoes of Mr. Mamet's voice and even politics (Mr. Shallow, that's my name) in this admittedly aeasthetically inferior piece of scribbling, I do.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Japan: The Real Meaning of the Okinawa Election Results
In today's Upper House by-elections, the DPJ took Fukushima, while the LDP grabbed the seat that the DPJ incumbent had vacated to run (unsuccessfully) for governor. So the split is actually a net gain for the LDP.
But the real story can be seen in Ginowan City, whose citizens have long suffered under the yoke of the US Hutenma airbase taking out a huge chunk of prime real estate. The Ginowan incumbent, supported by the DPJ among otheres, had opposed the Japan-US agreement to transfer to the city of Nago, because he wanted the airbase out of Okinawa altogether. This platform, if admirable, was surely an act of political suicide. The Ginowanese, nevertheless, enthusiastically supported it, if the results mean anything.
Can this incredible act of self-sacrifice and altruism be explained in any other way than by imagining what the Ginowan local economy will look like, if the airbase ever leaves?
But the real story can be seen in Ginowan City, whose citizens have long suffered under the yoke of the US Hutenma airbase taking out a huge chunk of prime real estate. The Ginowan incumbent, supported by the DPJ among otheres, had opposed the Japan-US agreement to transfer to the city of Nago, because he wanted the airbase out of Okinawa altogether. This platform, if admirable, was surely an act of political suicide. The Ginowanese, nevertheless, enthusiastically supported it, if the results mean anything.
Can this incredible act of self-sacrifice and altruism be explained in any other way than by imagining what the Ginowan local economy will look like, if the airbase ever leaves?
France: Does the English Language MSM Consistently Label Sarkozy a Right-Winger or What?
Does the English language MSM consistently label Nicolas Sarkozy a right-winger, while it unfailingly calls Segolene Royal a socialist? But is Sarkozy a nativist? Is he going to abolish social welfare? And is Royal suggesting nationalizing core industries and collectivizing agriculture?
Given the existence of Jean-Marie Le Pen as the "far-right" candidate, "right-wing" seems to be the more sinister moniker of the two.
The two Japanese Upper House elections being held today do not excite me. The DPJ seems poised to win in Fukushima, while the Okinawa seat remains up in the air, and the outcome will obviously affect the numbers game in the July election. However, it will not otherwise impact the dynamics; what happens in Okinawa stays in Okinawa.
A DPJ victory, particularly with party leader Ozawa tacking to the left, certainly won't help the realignment of US bases there. But then, things there will not be moving any time soon anyway.
Given the existence of Jean-Marie Le Pen as the "far-right" candidate, "right-wing" seems to be the more sinister moniker of the two.
The two Japanese Upper House elections being held today do not excite me. The DPJ seems poised to win in Fukushima, while the Okinawa seat remains up in the air, and the outcome will obviously affect the numbers game in the July election. However, it will not otherwise impact the dynamics; what happens in Okinawa stays in Okinawa.
A DPJ victory, particularly with party leader Ozawa tacking to the left, certainly won't help the realignment of US bases there. But then, things there will not be moving any time soon anyway.
Friday, April 20, 2007
America: Five Million Emails Missing in 22 Political Accounts?
Five Million Emails Missing in 22 Political Accounts? That's more than 250,000 emails lost per account. Assuming they've all had these accounts for the full six years, they each lost a hundred White House (not political) emails per day. And you can bet they weren't getting Viagra ads. You wonder how they got any work done.
See Jon Stewart deal with it.
See Jon Stewart deal with it.
Japan: It's Official, Japan Now Has a Basic Act on the Oceans. So, How Often Do You See the DPJ and the JCP Agree on Anything?
The Diet passed the Basic Act on the Oceans (my translation) today. The ruling LDP and Komeito, the main opposition party DPJ, the Japan Communist Party, and the People's New Party (led by LDP castaway Shizuka Kamei) all voted for the bill. (One wonders what the rump Socialist Party objected to.) This should serve to dispel in a way I had not anticipated the myth of the rising right-wing nationalism that people like Steven Clemons and Francis Fukushima perpetuate, courtesy of the English-language mainstream media.
The driving force here is, of course, China and South Korea's aggression, real or imagined (I have no time to do the research), in the area. It seems everybody is nationalist when it comes to the near abroad and in between. But then, anybody who knows squat about post-war Japan will remember that the right and left made common cause against the mainstream middle in 1960, as they joined forces to oppose, unsuccessfully, the upgrading of the Japan-US Mutual Security Treaty. The people who ignore history condemn us to see them write about it.
South Korea, China, the US; throw a stone, and you will hit a nationalist, and Japan is no exception. Perhaps it is time for the MSM to retire that old cliché they trot out every time China or South Korea takes offense, or when a loser on the fringes of the dwindling ultra right wing acts out his rage on a politician he resents.
I have a lot more to say on the decline of the so-called right wing and its implications. But I need time to work on it.
Stay tuned.
The driving force here is, of course, China and South Korea's aggression, real or imagined (I have no time to do the research), in the area. It seems everybody is nationalist when it comes to the near abroad and in between. But then, anybody who knows squat about post-war Japan will remember that the right and left made common cause against the mainstream middle in 1960, as they joined forces to oppose, unsuccessfully, the upgrading of the Japan-US Mutual Security Treaty. The people who ignore history condemn us to see them write about it.
South Korea, China, the US; throw a stone, and you will hit a nationalist, and Japan is no exception. Perhaps it is time for the MSM to retire that old cliché they trot out every time China or South Korea takes offense, or when a loser on the fringes of the dwindling ultra right wing acts out his rage on a politician he resents.
I have a lot more to say on the decline of the so-called right wing and its implications. But I need time to work on it.
Stay tuned.
Work Gets in My Eyes; or, Notice Regarding My Hiatus, Including a Very Brief Preview of Sorts
The following is the reply I gave to an inquiry from garret. And thanks also, garret, for not only putting up Karin's Japanland inquiry on your website but buying her book as well.
Sorry guys. Work got in the way. Haven't had the time to do the factchecking and calibrating I need to do to post. I have a one-month-old piece on the second Norimitsu Ohnishi article lying around in my PC for which I never had the time to read the original testimony of the three women.
I have a lot of stuff in my head though, including a piece that puts four actions from the Chinese side during Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan and what they mean, a angle on the Wolfwitz affair that the MSM studiously tiptoes around (I don't think I will go there after all), the decline of the Japanese right-wing and what that means to Japanse politics, and other stuff that the Western MSM doesn't go into. Stay tuned.
It's hard to put into words how much your inquiry means to me. So you'll have to settle for: Thank you.
Sorry guys. Work got in the way. Haven't had the time to do the factchecking and calibrating I need to do to post. I have a one-month-old piece on the second Norimitsu Ohnishi article lying around in my PC for which I never had the time to read the original testimony of the three women.
I have a lot of stuff in my head though, including a piece that puts four actions from the Chinese side during Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan and what they mean, a angle on the Wolfwitz affair that the MSM studiously tiptoes around (I don't think I will go there after all), the decline of the Japanese right-wing and what that means to Japanse politics, and other stuff that the Western MSM doesn't go into. Stay tuned.
It's hard to put into words how much your inquiry means to me. So you'll have to settle for: Thank you.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
So Much Has Been Written and Talked about Concerning the Most Recent Flare Up over the "Comfort Women" Issue, and Yet I Can't Stop Myself
Some facts that get lost in the tussle:
Prime Minister Abe did not raise the issue; Congressman Honda did, in a House Subcommittee, and forced his hand. Mr. Abe merely stated his previously expressed view, shared by much of the conservative wing of the LDP and, apparently, DPJ, that the would there was no proof that the Japanese government was directly involved in any coercion of the women, but that he would abide by the Kohno Statement as well.
Mr. Abe's views were clearly misrepresented in the foreign media, and this has added fuel to the fire.
Some predictions:
Mr. Abe will not issue a new apology.
The Emperor will not issue an apology.
The Abe trip to Washington will be marred by protests wherever he goes. (This last one courtesy of a US expert whom I will not name, unless he reads this and says he wants to be identified.)
If you want to really get into this issue, I understand there is a big debate going on at the MBR forum.
And before you write in to compare me to a Holocaust denier or a fellow traveler thereof, please note that I said: add fuel to the fire. And read my previous entry on this subject.
(Beside the point) I had been preoccupied this week, and I've been neglecting this blog. So to you who took the trouble to comment, my apologies. And thanks, Ken, for putting up that notice on behalf of Karin Muller; there's an intellectual property issue here, if indeed Japanland was broadcast or aired on cable or satellite TV. Also, thank you for your kind words about this blog. I'm supposed to be modest here; I'll merely state that, on the basis of the contents of your website, you are a source to be trusted.
By the way, I also found the false rape conviction highly disturbing. This and other cases have made me very skeptical of the death penalty, among other things. We did a complete makeover of our criminal procedures law after WW II, but much of the actual practice quickly diverged from the letter and spirit of the law. The upshot is that we have a criminal investigation and prosecution system that relies heavily on confessions. This apparently can result in serious travesties of the law.
Prime Minister Abe did not raise the issue; Congressman Honda did, in a House Subcommittee, and forced his hand. Mr. Abe merely stated his previously expressed view, shared by much of the conservative wing of the LDP and, apparently, DPJ, that the would there was no proof that the Japanese government was directly involved in any coercion of the women, but that he would abide by the Kohno Statement as well.
Mr. Abe's views were clearly misrepresented in the foreign media, and this has added fuel to the fire.
Some predictions:
Mr. Abe will not issue a new apology.
The Emperor will not issue an apology.
The Abe trip to Washington will be marred by protests wherever he goes. (This last one courtesy of a US expert whom I will not name, unless he reads this and says he wants to be identified.)
If you want to really get into this issue, I understand there is a big debate going on at the MBR forum.
And before you write in to compare me to a Holocaust denier or a fellow traveler thereof, please note that I said: add fuel to the fire. And read my previous entry on this subject.
(Beside the point) I had been preoccupied this week, and I've been neglecting this blog. So to you who took the trouble to comment, my apologies. And thanks, Ken, for putting up that notice on behalf of Karin Muller; there's an intellectual property issue here, if indeed Japanland was broadcast or aired on cable or satellite TV. Also, thank you for your kind words about this blog. I'm supposed to be modest here; I'll merely state that, on the basis of the contents of your website, you are a source to be trusted.
By the way, I also found the false rape conviction highly disturbing. This and other cases have made me very skeptical of the death penalty, among other things. We did a complete makeover of our criminal procedures law after WW II, but much of the actual practice quickly diverged from the letter and spirit of the law. The upshot is that we have a criminal investigation and prosecution system that relies heavily on confessions. This apparently can result in serious travesties of the law.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Was Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa Broadcast on Japanese TV?
Karin Muller, creator of the documentary television series Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa, was somewhat surprised by the following in this Wikipedia entry:
"Japanland has even been shown on Japanese TV, rare for a U.S. program, especially one on Japan."
She wants to know if it has aired with a national broadcaster. She says it was probably up to a year ago, if indeed it happened.
Please let me know (post here, if you don't have my email address) if you have any information about this. Her work allows her to have access to the Internet (and the comforts of life that most of you who are now reading this enjoy) only intermittently and at great intervals, so I'm asking you on her behalf.
"Japanland has even been shown on Japanese TV, rare for a U.S. program, especially one on Japan."
She wants to know if it has aired with a national broadcaster. She says it was probably up to a year ago, if indeed it happened.
Please let me know (post here, if you don't have my email address) if you have any information about this. Her work allows her to have access to the Internet (and the comforts of life that most of you who are now reading this enjoy) only intermittently and at great intervals, so I'm asking you on her behalf.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Fred Kaplan Picks Up on the Bush Administration’s 180°on North Korean Uranium Enrichment Program. So Where Does That Leave Chris Hill?
I speculated about the sudden US turnaround on North Korea's uranium program here. And this is Fred Kaplan's take. Whatever the motives for the public acknowledgement, the Bush administration’s credibility was further diminished. But where does this leave Chris Hill?
I realize he's much more simpatico than Douglas Feith, John Bolton, and the other long-departed ideologues that decorated the White House landscape. Still, he must have had some responsibility for what took place?
I know I'm not supposed to complain, since the US is running Six-Party-Talks interference for Japan on the abductees issue. Still, you have to wonder: Was Chris Hill stupid? Or was he lying? And why doesn't the media care?
If this sounds a lot like my earlier take on Condoleezza Rice, it's no coincidence.
I realize he's much more simpatico than Douglas Feith, John Bolton, and the other long-departed ideologues that decorated the White House landscape. Still, he must have had some responsibility for what took place?
I know I'm not supposed to complain, since the US is running Six-Party-Talks interference for Japan on the abductees issue. Still, you have to wonder: Was Chris Hill stupid? Or was he lying? And why doesn't the media care?
If this sounds a lot like my earlier take on Condoleezza Rice, it's no coincidence.
Cute Animals – They're the Best Kind
If you think you can spare some love for cute little animals such as Donald Trump the Golden-Rumped Elephant Shrew, Dennis Kucinich Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the Hairy-Eared Dwarf Lemur, and Mick Jagger the Giant Jumping Rat, then you should take a look at the slide show.
Mr. Abe Makes the Cover of Newsweek Unfortunately, the Headline is: LETDOWN
I can't believe anyone who bothers to read this blog has missed this one, but here it is anyway. Newsweek (Asia version) Mar. 5 issue has a fairly lengthy cover story about how almost nothing has gone right for Prime Minister Abe after the stunning diplomatic coup at the start of his administration. It's mostly a compendium of conventional wisdom you see in the Japanese domestic press. That's not Newsweek's fault though. The Abe administration is turning into a CW compendium.
Looking at this article and using my impeccable 20/20 hindsight, I realize now that the trip to Beijing was a snap, and Seoul could not afford to be left behind. His two other early, major political victories were also much less difficult than they seemed to be at first glance. In amending the Education Basic Law to include promoting patriotism among other things, the DPJ proposed language that was even stronger than the Komeito-moderated administration version. The DPJ also came to support the Agency-to-Ministry makeover for the self-defense bureaucracy. And I say the Beijing (and Seoul) trip was easy because the trip had been a long time in preparation. China badly wanted to make up, going so far as not to extract promise form Mr. Abe not to go to the Yasukuni Shrine, instead embarking on a coy pas de deux that enabled Mr. Abe (and of course Hu Jintao) to sidestep the question.
So, early in his tenure, Mr. Abe picked the low-hanging fruit. But now, he is saddled with the hard questions. (Isn't hindsight a wonderful skill to have?) What is he going to do with the nitty-gritty of education? The economic disparities, attributed in the political narrative to Prime Minister Koizumi's economic reform policies? The national pension and healthcare systems? How does what are you going to do with the make over help us deal with the nuclear threat?
And speaking of North Korea, Mr., Abe seems to be trapped between a rock and a hard place on the abductees issue. A core constituency of his demands a hard line on North Korea on this issue, while the US will not make this an obstacle to improvements on the nuclear issue. In purely political terms, Mr. Abe will be best served by a collapse of the Six-Party deal due to North Korean intransigence. That way, he can postpone the tough decisions.
(Shisaku reminds us by way of Shukan Shincho that patience may be wearing thin among some of the families of the abductees.)
Looking at this article and using my impeccable 20/20 hindsight, I realize now that the trip to Beijing was a snap, and Seoul could not afford to be left behind. His two other early, major political victories were also much less difficult than they seemed to be at first glance. In amending the Education Basic Law to include promoting patriotism among other things, the DPJ proposed language that was even stronger than the Komeito-moderated administration version. The DPJ also came to support the Agency-to-Ministry makeover for the self-defense bureaucracy. And I say the Beijing (and Seoul) trip was easy because the trip had been a long time in preparation. China badly wanted to make up, going so far as not to extract promise form Mr. Abe not to go to the Yasukuni Shrine, instead embarking on a coy pas de deux that enabled Mr. Abe (and of course Hu Jintao) to sidestep the question.
So, early in his tenure, Mr. Abe picked the low-hanging fruit. But now, he is saddled with the hard questions. (Isn't hindsight a wonderful skill to have?) What is he going to do with the nitty-gritty of education? The economic disparities, attributed in the political narrative to Prime Minister Koizumi's economic reform policies? The national pension and healthcare systems? How does what are you going to do with the make over help us deal with the nuclear threat?
And speaking of North Korea, Mr., Abe seems to be trapped between a rock and a hard place on the abductees issue. A core constituency of his demands a hard line on North Korea on this issue, while the US will not make this an obstacle to improvements on the nuclear issue. In purely political terms, Mr. Abe will be best served by a collapse of the Six-Party deal due to North Korean intransigence. That way, he can postpone the tough decisions.
(Shisaku reminds us by way of Shukan Shincho that patience may be wearing thin among some of the families of the abductees.)
Intrepid Norimitsu Ohnishi Claims Japanese Government about to Reject "Kohno Statement on Comfort Women". Not So Fast, though That Is Not My Point
Mr. Abe's statement was the clearest so far that the government was preparing to reject a 1993 government statement that acknowledged the military’s role in setting up brothels and forcing, either directly or indirectly, women into sexual slavery. That declaration also offered an apology to the women, euphemistically called "comfort women."
"There is no evidence to prove there was coercion, nothing to support it," Mr. Abe told reporters. "So, in respect to this declaration, you have to keep in mind that things have changed greatly."
(Norimitsu Ohnishi; Mar. 2, New York Times)
Mr. Ohnishi is up to his usual self, hitting Japanese nationalists where it hurts. Of course, if he had waited a day or two to write his article, he may have been less certain that "the government was preparing to reject [the] 1993 government statement".
Yesterday (Mar. 1), Mr. Abe did repeat his view that "the fact is, there was no evidence to support ‘coercion' as it had been originally defined", but he also stated that "it must be taken into consideration that the definition of 'coercion' was changed (to a broader one since that time the [Kohno Statement] was issued)." That looks an awful lot like Mr. Abe's way of reconciling his right-wing (and I use the term "right-wing" sparingly, including for Mr. Abe) views on this point and his need as a prime minister to avoid taking Japan back into international pariah status over it (stylistically reminiscent of his "don't ask, don't tell" Yasukuni policy). Seen in that light, Mr. Ohnishi seems to have misinterpreted Mr. Abe's Feb. 27 claim that "in respect to this declaration, you have to keep in mind that things have changed greatly" in a way that sexed up the story. (I'm giving Mr. Onishi a pass on that, though, since he has been, generally speaking, a conscientious chronicler of Japanese ills and misdeeds.)
In any case, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the embattled Chief Cabinet Secretary, has continued to deny that the Japanese government will seek to revisit the Kohno Statement, and it would be a huge embarrassment to the Abe administration if he has to eat his words. Moreover, on March 1, the Committee to Consider Japan's Future and History Education (chair: Mr. Nariaki Nakayama), a group of LDP Diet members dissatisfied with the Kohno Statement and other elements of our modern historical narrative, convened to adopt recommendations for revising the Kohno Statement, but that session ended without reaching any conclusions due to serious disagreements among its members.
This, I think, gives a more accurate picture of where the Abe administration, indeed, the revisionists are, than Mr. Ohnishi's narrative.
Having said that, though, what is this twaddle about "no evidence"? Since when has oral testimony ceased to be evidence? Even our Constitution places only this one restriction: (Article 38 paragraph 3) No person shall be convicted or punished in cases where the only proof against him is his own confession. In fact, as you can see, "shoko" in "the original" is unofficially "translated" as "proof". I think Mr. Ohnishi's preference, "evidence", is more accurate, but let us give Mr. Abe the benefit of the doubt and assume he merely meant that the case for military and other official involvement in the coercion had not been proven.
True, human memory is frail and fraught with faults; one need not accuse the women who have come forward of prevarication to challenge their versions of the truth. But when a good number of women from different nations come forward to relate their ordeals, then at least some of the burden of proof would seem to shift to the shoulders of the deniers.
As for me, I have no way of knowing enough to pass judgment on the veracity of the testimonies of the women who have come forward. But one recounting of an incident, given by a woman who did not become a "comfort woman", willing or unwilling, sticks in my mind. It is an interview, in a BBC program, of an elderly, apparently well-to-do Indian woman, a teenager at the time of the Japanese occupation of Singapore. She tells the story of a Japanese military officer coming to her house one day. He returns again, this time to convince her to serve him in his quarters. She refuses. The officer slaps her, but she is otherwise unharmed. He leaves, and that is the end of that story. This story rings particularly true because of its simplicity and, more importantly, its lack of lasting trauma and suffering that causes us, knowingly or not, to so often edit our memories. And it leaves me to wonder, how many other women were approached and treated in a similar manner, or worse?
Then, one remembers the wanton lack of regard for the lives and well-being of our soldiers and civilians, as well as the brutality that the military chose to inflict on them, as they saw the occasion to warrant and particularly as our military fortunes deteriorated. And how can anyone deny that "the other" must have fared worse, perhaps much more so, at its hands than our own people?
Who knows, perhaps the Committee has enough evidence of its own to leave reasonable doubt at to the veracity of the testimonies of the women who have come forward. That, perhaps, would acquit the Japanese military in a criminal court of law. Others have discovered, however, that the rules of evidence are more relaxed in other courts. And it is in the court of public opinion, the easiest one of all and the only one that counts in this instant, that the Committee will miserably fail. Mr. Ohnishi's claims to the contrary, Mr. Abe, for all his lack of knowledge of rules of evidence, seems to have always been aware of this and acted accordingly. Let us hope he continues to do so.
(Sidebar 1) Field commanders, officers, common soldiers, made it up as they went along, as the situation, in their minds, warranted. There was no systemic effort sustained over time to perpetrate atrocities. (Unless you judge involvement in prostitution itself an act whose perpetrators are beyond redemption. But these were different times, and the world was at war.) This is where the Japanese experience separates, like so many other acts of moral desolation, from the Holocaust. Needless to say, to the victims, this distinction matters not one whit.
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