"Seeming ineptitude of the incumbent Kan administration"

Chiura Obata "Setting Sun, Sacramento Valley", 1925

Here is what I wrote today November 11th, on NBR'S JAPAN FORUM on the subject:

"Seeming ineptitude of the incumbent Kan administration"

"Watching Japan for quite some years now, nearly 2

decades, including with the experience of working with

Japanese salary-men and interacting with Japanese,

Chinese, Korean firms of my sector of activity, the

international broadcasting news production, I cannot

see any real effort made by this current Japanese

administration to build consensus with the people who

elected or not Mr. Naoto Kan's party to this high

office and I would like to explain why.

Months ago, numerous reports in the foreign and

national media, especially in the US, were alarmed of

the difficulties of Japan after weeks of DPJ ruling.

Based on this observation, we decided to know more

about it and we spent a lot of time conducting

meetings and interviews, including hosting foreign

press events in Tokyo with rulers and entrepreneurs,

but also journeyed on the roads of this nation,

visited towns, harbors, fields and mountainous

villages of the archipelago where we tried to evaluate

the in-depth perception after the historical shift of

power following 50 years of LDP ruling.

An unfortunate conclusion was the answer. In the

majority of opinions, the impression of a betrayal

prevailed, the DPJ failed in its pledge to make the

people of this country happier or at least less

unhappy. A trend by the way acknowledged in very

recent surveys. Too often, unanimous answers were

provided by Japanese people who had the good will and

kindness to spare time with foreign reporters. No

major change, Japanese interviewees said, came in

their life after the very first months of power of the

Minshuto and even less today. On this forum, as an

echo to our facts finding work, we have had several

specialists able to analyze and to offer several

explanations of what went wrong here and why.

I certainly do not deny that "building consensus" is

indeed a natural trend and a sort of genuine

authenticity of the Japanese society included in

working practices especially if, in the subtext, we

are talking in a context of a traditional environment

of small and medium enterprises, farming communities

for instance. But for what is related to this

administration, following the constant embarrassment

it did to itself, as an NHK anchorman surprisingly

stated on air recently, people from all fields,

complained of the government's attitude and of its

bureaucracies and in particular pointed at the

Japanese ministry of Finance who, they said, rules and

destroys people and their lives, firms and

organizations, private or public. They always did

comment with calm and moderation.

As politicians Masuzoe and Watanabe often highlighted,

the bureaucracy of the MOF is "omnipotent" and

"abusive", using Diet members for accumulation of

unpopular governance with the result of instability

ruining the lives of many Japanese and foreign settled

workers, Asian et all [something Europeans have

endured for years with equally Brussels EU mammoth

bureaucracy]. And indeed during our months of down to

earth work, people always complained that the MOF

excels with the arrogance of bureaucrats turned

"feudal lords alike" killing smoothly what this

country was proud of and known for: "A certain art of

building trust, effort and harmony and being able to

face adversity," as one mayor of a famous city told me

a few days ago. I take his words for wise words as he

proved in the past decades that he could handle the

fate of an LDP ex-king maker involved in very serious

corruption.

From the regions of Japan, as we emphasized, a

disillusioned anger, simple, basic, towards Kan's

administration is becoming more palpable while in the

same time the security of this country and of its

territory and waters is deserted into the hands of

"amateurs", as a major Japanese newspaper recently

commented. Is this anger, this whole context known and

heard from the operators of Nagatacho and Kasumigaseki

ministerial offices and the Kan administration and

will they shift methods? Apparently not.

Original here http://bit.ly/bdw6Y1

"NBR, with full support and funding from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC), launched in December 2000 an electronic discussion forum for those interested in issues surrounding Japan-U.S. relations, Japanese politics, economics, social issues, history, and security. The Japan Forum provides an opportunity for in-depth discussion among individuals who seek to further their understanding of contemporary Japanese affairs."

Sources: NBR, Reporter's Notes