President Sarkozy's Personal Pick for Ambassador to Japan

Gildas Le Lidec, the French Ambassador in Tokyo, is an old Japan hand, on his third tour here. He has spent most of the rest of his career in South and Southeast Asia, and Africa. (Most recently, he was been ambassador to Ivory Coast and Liberia.) He did have three tours back home, twice in science, technology, and cultural affairs, and once in humanitarian activities. 60 years old, he will be transferred to Mozambique in January.

According to a Yomiuri dispatch from Paris by Michio Hayashi, Ambassador le Lidec will be replaced by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Europe*. As Mr. Hayashi assures us, “it is unusual for the Ministry of Foreign Affair to see a Deputy Minister being appointed as Ambassador to Japan.” To him, “it appears that the objective of the Sarkozy administration, having fewer contact points than the previous President Chirac, who was pro-Japan, is to advertise a stance that puts a high value on relations with Japan.”

How nice. However, Mr. Hayashi mentions later in the article that “[the] Deputy Minister is known as a friend of former Prime Minister de Villepan**.” Yes. Mr. de Villepin, career diplomat, President Chirac’s protégé and intended successor, whose dislike for Mr. Sarkozy － the feeling is apparently mutual － is well documented.

So, has Mr. Hayashi has fulfilled his journalistic responsibilities? The Yomiuri international desk? I report, you decide.

* His name is rendered phonetically in Japanese characters, and I have been unable to trace it on the Internet; help me here, RD.

** Wikipedia as of 8 December 2007 notes that Mr. de Villepin “has a Chinese friend, Catherine Cheng.” This is yet another contact point with Japan. You see, I am Japanese, and I have three Taiwanese friends myself, and all of them happen to be women. None of them, however, are named Katherine Cheng. And my name is not, of course, Dominique de Villepin.

France: Left? Right? Depends on Where You're Standing, I Suppose.

A friend who had read this post came up to me and asked why I liked Nicholas Sarkozy. I think he must have been kidding, because he's normally very perceptive. However, it is interesting that my point, which was to wonder whether the asymmetry in calling Sarkozy right-wing while consistently labeling Royale as socialist could be betraying any political biases, could so easily be interpreted, if only in jest, as an expression of my own ideological preference.

Now today, I came across The Demonization of Sarkozy, written by someone who would likely pee in his pants if Mr. Sarkozy so much as looked at him. And sure enough, as early as the second sentence comes this journalistic gem:

"Ms Royal, the left-wing candidate who is about four points behind the conservative Mr. Sarkozy in polls, denounced her opponent for the 'great violence' and 'brutality' of a campaign that she maintained was frightening away voters".

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.