Could a scandal crush the reformer?

Crushing blow

The top-selling Yomiuri newspaper reported that Tokyo

prosecutors had started hearings with people on a donors'

list for Mr Hatoyama, who took office last month after his

party's crushing election victory.

Prosecutors have launched a probe into the fund-raising

activities of new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's office.

Hatoyama's lawyer, Mr Yoichi Ioroi: "An investigation into

the case of a (possible) violation of the political funds

control law has begun".

In June, Mr Hatoyama admitted keeping sloppy accounts for his

fund-raising association, which reported the donors' list

including the names of dead people and those who had denied

giving money.

Mr Hatoyama said his former accountant was solely responsible

for the problem. Amount involved? 21 million yen recorded

incorrectly since 2005.

Mr Hatoyama's government downplayed news of the

investigation. "Our prime minister has repeatedly made

apologies and explanations about what he knows," says Chief

Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano. Better wait for results

of investigation by prosecutors the new prime minister said.

His predecessor in breaking LDP rules early 90s also fell for

incorrect political funding. Time, 1994 April 18 :

http://tinyurl.com/y9cbaod

"A popular reformer who came to power last August pledging to

sweep out "money politics" was outrun by a scandal of his own

making... "Hosokawa confessed that his previous explanations

of a questionable 1982 loan had not been candid... The

suspect loan, worth $960,000, came from the Sagawa Kyubin

trucking company. Hosokawa claims that he repaid the money,

but critics say he kept it to fund his campaign to become

governor of Kumamoto prefecture the following year. When

pressed, the Prime Minister first asserted that he used the

cash to purchase an apartment in Tokyo and to repair the

roofed gate and plaster wall of an ancestral home. Opposition

legislators charge that he bought the apartment before he

received the loan. They tracked down the construction

workers and determined that they charged only $67,000 for the

repair -- and did the work a year after Hosokawa received the

loan... Despite his downfall, Hosokawa will be remembered

for his role in prying Japanese politics free from the

hammerlock of the L.D.P. But he leaves behind an awkward

governing coalition, which includes highly conservative

former L.D.P. barons widely viewed as corrupt, as well as

pacifist social democrats and disparate smaller parties."

End of quotes.

Nakagawa Shoichi, a cruel twist of fate

Shoichi Nakagawa at a press event at

Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan

When fate strikes relentlessly...

Following his father Ichiro Nakagawa* in dramatic death,

Japan's former vice minister Shoichi Nakagawa was found dead

in a bed in his house in Tokyo, Japanese media reported on

Sunday, citing Tokyo Metropolitan Police. No external

injuries were found on his body, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has been found dead

at his home in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, Nakagawa, 56, was lying

face down on a bed on the second floor of his home without

any apparent external wounds, according to the Tokyo police.

He was among the big Liberal Democratic Party members who

lost in the Aug. 30 House of Representatives election, in

which the Democratic Party of Japan clinched a landslide

victory over the LDP to oust it from power. Nakagawa, who

won his first lower house seat in 1983, stepped down as

finance minister and financial services minister in February

after appearing to be drunk at a press conference of a Group

of Seven financial leaders meeting in Rome.

He was a Japanese conservative politician in the Liberal

Democratic Party (LDP), who served as Minister of Finance

until February 17, 2009. Nakagawa was born in Tokyo and

attended Azabu High School, graduated from the law faculty of

the University of Tokyo in 1978 and entered the Industrial

Bank of Japan.

His father was prominent Hokkaido politician Ichiro Nakagawa.

Ichiro Nakagawa was the late director general of the Science

and Technology Agency, who mysteriously committed suicide in

a hotel in 1983 although he was to be assigned to a high

position at the LDP... Nakagawa was first elected in that

year as a House of Representatives member, succeeding his

father in a Hokkaido district. He served eighth terms.

Although Shoichi was born in Tokyo and had lived there his

whole life, he ran to replace his father and succeeded him.

At that time, he had a widely publicized conflict with his

father's secretary, Muneo Suzuki, who also ran for a seat in

a neighboring district. (Suzuki was forced to resign on

corruption charges in 2002.)

In 1998, he became Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries

under Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, and in 2003, he became

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the cabinet of

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He served as Agriculture

Minister from October 2005 to September 2006, when incoming

prime minister Shinzo Abe appointed Nakagawa as chairman of

the Policy Research Council of the LDP.

In December 2006, Kyodo News Agency quoted Nakagawa as having

said the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were

"truly unforgivable on humanitarian grounds" and reported the

politician's concerns over the possession of nuclear weapons

by North Korea.

Shoichi Nakagawa, was named chairman of the LDP's Policy

Research Council, he had a political stance close to LDP ex

party President Shinzo Abe, sharing his hawkishness on North

Korea and desire to revise the Constitution. But his

appointment to one of the party's three top posts to support

Abe invited jealousy from party colleagues, as he has served

in key party and Cabinet positions throughout the 5 years of

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi mandate.

Nakagawa and Abe had jointly led a group of lawmakers of

their generation promoting nationalist views on history

education, and were also on friendly terms with each other.

Nakagawa, like Abe, called for economic sanctions on North

Korea and a new Constitution to replace the one instituted

while Japan was under U.S. Occupation.

Serving as minister of economy, trade and industry and then

as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, Nakagawa

promoted trade liberalization, taking advantage of his career

as a kingmaker in farm policy. As farm minister, however, he

did not budge in rejecting U.S. pressure to lift the beef

import ban imposed due to concerns over mad cow disease.

During the G7 meeting of finance ministers in Rome on

February 14, 2009, Nakagawa then minister of Finance was seen

to be slurring his words and exhibiting other odd behavior,

which some attributed to alcohol. However, he stated that

the reason for his drowsiness and slurred speech was that he

had taken too much cold medicine before the meeting.

Despite calls for his resignation by opposition parties at

the time, Nakagawa did not immediately resign. Prime

Minister Taro Aso supported him and called for him to

continue his duties as Finance Minister. However, on

February 17 Nakagawa announced that he had chosen to resign,

and his resignation was accepted by Prime Minister Aso.

(Shoichi Nakagawa interviewed by RTL , AFP, Le Monde at LDP Nagatacho Nov 2006, 27th arranged by Foreign Press Center Japan)

✍ As a journalist I knew Nakagawa Shoichi-san for years, since

he became a major VIP in LDP, we did not share the same views

on Japan politics but established trustful working

relationship and I knew he committed so much to his politics.

His father tragic death in the 80 s' were uncontrollable

stigmata of a relentless pain. In addition to his drinking

problem he also had a weak myocardial condition. Politics is

cruel and we must never forget it as media and I offer my

sincere condolences to his widow.

* Nakagawa Ichiro, "politician (1925-1983) born in Hokkaido.

Elected to the Diet in 1963, he created a secret

ultra-conservative group, the Seiran-kai -the Society of the

Blue Storm- (other members were Ishihara Shintaro, Watanabe

Michio, Fujio, Masayuki) in 1973, in an attempt to

destabilize the party in power, the Jiminto (LDP). Distraught

at not being able to take over the presidency of that party,

he committed suicide (by hanging)." In : Japanese

Encyclopedia by Louis Frederic and Kathe Roth Harvard

University Press 2005.

And this:

"In 1973, the first oil shock occurred, causing wholesale

prices to jump by 31.4 percent. At the same time, the dollar

was devalued. Reforms in the international monetary system

floated the yen and created a sudden influx of available

money that fueled real estate investment. This in turn

fueled a runaway inflation spiral that deeply hurt the

nation's salaried workers. Domestic affairs had been

considered Tanaka's greatest forté; ironically it turned out

to be his weakest ability. His public image took a severe

beating in 1973. Further upsetting the public tranquility in

this year was the right-wing, intra-party formation of

Seirankai (the Blue Storm Group). The thirty-one-member

group, which included such notable politicians as Michio

Watanabe, Ichiro Nakagawa, Masayuki Fujio and Shintaro

Ishihara, created a public sensation when they sealed a

written pledge of unity in Yakuza style, with their blood.

The group was staunchly anti-communist and deeply opposed to

Tanaka's opening of China. The existence of such a group

within the LDP was very frightening to the nation's union

members. The Seirankai success was followed in March of 1974

by the presentation of a bill that would have officially

sanctioned Yasukuni Shrine as a memorial to the war dead.

The Shrine seemed to symbolize, at least to a lot of

Japanese, a return to prewar policies. Insofar as the young

men who died for their country had little say in the

government logic that lead to their deaths, a shrine to them

wouldn't seem to be a horrible thing, but in Japan it was

still an emotionally charged issue that cost Tanaka a lot of

support, even though the bill was discarded before it reached

the House of Councilors." http://tinyurl.com/yby7oy3

When Japan tries to say No

Godzilla has been considered a filmographic metaphor for the

United States, as well as an allegory of nuclear weapons in

general. Godzilla represented the fears that many Japanese

held about the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and

the possibility of recurrence.

One can hear many more things from DPJ politicians nowadays

and it' easy to see that something has changed here. If

nothing guarantees that the reform of Japan Prime Minister

Hatoyama party, the Democratic Party of Japan, will work out

if it confines into symbolic destruction of past LDP regime.

Some more straightforward policies are now designed to show

that after all, yes, it happened, Japan can say No. *

For instance Hatoyama party has long advocated tighter US

Japan economic ties and collaboration on nonmilitary areas

such as energy and the environment. "Japan's relations with

the U.S. have been heavily biased toward defense," Hatoyama

recently said. "Now it's time to shift our focus to economic

ties." In other words, message abroad is clear: stop bashing,

from the US, but also the EU, the Chinese.

One example is Afghanistan. After war brought destruction,

it is time to reconstruct and polish. Here is how the

archipelago diversifies its int'l cooperation, huge by the

way, in helping the... Taliban!

First answer to the Obama administration, regarding the war

in Afghanistan, Japan does not want to continue the

refueling in the Indian ocean but offer a comparative

advantage that is less "war machine" motion. Cash and

training, economic push up.

"The Japanese government has decided to provide vocational

training to former Taliban soldiers to support reconstruction

efforts in Afghanistan as an alternative to the refueling

mission by the Maritime Self-Defense Forces in the Indian

Ocean, whose legal mandate will expire in January.

Vocational training has heretofore not been offered to former

Taliban soldiers, and has the benefit of highlighting Japan's

"new contribution to the international community" as a

fitting alternative to its current refueling mission.

While several hundreds of thousands of Taliban soldiers are

said to be in Afghanistan, many join the movement for money.

The purpose of Japan's newly proposed mission is to rectify a

system that forces citizens to join such groups by

alleviating poverty, thereby providing support to the US

which has been troubled by deteriorating public security in

the country."

Instructors are be selected from among Afghans, but how Japan

(NDAG: the MOFA) will secure staff to train the instructors

themselves as well as whether the training will take place

within Afghanistan or a third country has yet to be decided.

"Japan has announced approximately 2 billion dollars' worth

of aid to Afghanistan, which includes half a year's salary

for the 80,000 or so police officers in the country and

support for rice farming. It is also considering expanding

its agricultural support activities based primarily around

Kabul to the country's northern regions, where public order

is relatively stable." (quotes mainichi, agencies, wikipedia,

reports)

✍ It is not the panacea for all insecurity ills but it's a

beginning.

* Reference to the pamphlet "The Japan That Can Say No: Why

Japan Will Be First Among Equals" By Ishihara Shintaro with

contributions by Sony cofounder Morita Akio .

http://tinyurl.com/yfw73w6

"The Japan That Can Say No" is a 1989 essay co-written by

Sony co-founder and chairman Akio Morita and current governor

of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara, in the climate of Japan's

economic rise. It was famous for its critical examination of

United States business practices, and for advocating Japan's

taking a more independent stance on many issues, from

business to foreign affairs. The title refers to the

authors' vision (Ishihara's in particular) of a Japanese

government that is more than a mere "yes man" to the United

States.

Vitória!! 2016 Brazil Olympics Carnival

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the 2016 Olympics to

Rio de Janeiro and gives South America its first Games.

International Olympic Committee members voted for Rio, Tokyo,

Chicago lost immediately, followed by suspense and the defat

of Madrid “It’s time to address this imbalance,” Lula told

IOC members in Copenhagen. “The Olympic Games belongs to all

people, all continents, all humanity.”

Brazil plans $11 billion of investment as host, more than any

other of the bidding cities. Lula said he was representing

190 million Brazilians with his speech. “For the others it

will be just one more Games, for us it will boost the

self-esteem of Brazilians,” Lula said.

After images of Rio’s beaches and Carnival celebration were

shown to IOC members, Central Bank President Henrique

Meirelles said Brazil’s economy was ready to host the Games.

He cited 8 percent growth in the second quarter and a record

employment rate in July. Pointing out a white-suited female

officer in the audience that he called Captain Priscilla, Rio

Governor Sergio Cabral said a new generation of police was

improving security in the city. The 2007 Pan American games

showed Rio can organize a major sports event.

"Uncertainty" for 41st Tokyo Motor Show

Big doubt indeed that the market can recover this year. Quotes : "The shock waves from the global economic crisis have reached this year's Tokyo Motor Show. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Tuesday that only two foreign automakers will participate in the 41st version of the exhibition, which starts Oct. 23, down from 26 at the previous show in 2007.

While major Japanese automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., will attend, foreign firms such as General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and Daimler AG will not participate, the association said. The only foreign companies showing off their cars will be Lotus of Britain and Alpina of Germany. South Korea's Hyundai officially notified JAMA it will not attend.

In all, 108 auto and auto parts companies will take part, the fewest since the show was first held in 1954. "The economic environment starting last year affected the makers' (decision) whether to attend the event this time," Satoshi Aoki, chairman of the association, told the press.

In 1995, the show attracted a record 361 companies and lots of visitors!

At the previous version in 2007, 241 companies took part. The 41st Tokyo show is also being eclipsed by China. Foreign automakers decided to participate in the Shanghai motor show, which took place in April, even though the financial crisis stroke markets, because the Chinese auto market is growing rapidly and people there have strong interest in automobiles like the Japanese market decades ago. This year's Shanghai show attracted 77 automakers, while only 10 are expected to participate in Tokyo's event.

"Uncertainty" and perfume of defeat? Premature but the trend is

worrying as lots of people expected to discover new "environment

friendly car industry". (Quotes Agencies, JTimes)

Dolphins slaughter of Taiji, Japan

And then the movie came about the dolphins slaughter in Taiji : "The Cove" *

Here, VDO http://tinyurl.com/bpndl7

I saw the movie and interviewed Ric O'Barry (who pays a late tribute to dolphins after using them for his business and popularity and trained "Flipper") I nevertheless think that even though the film is a show with technical talents and is made as a good documentary, there are a lot of discriminating concerns vis a vis the Japanese society. Now, is it really necessary to slaughter such a cleaver mammals as the dolphin and why don't they use dolphins for other human related friendly and environmentally correct activities? Also what a budget : 3 to 5 million $ paid by a sponsor related to an electronics and IT company.

Still, the director of an award-winning documentary about Japan's dolphin slaughter said that he plans to attend the screening of "The Cove" at the Tokyo film festival, early October even though he could be arrested. Japanese police say American director Louie Psihoyos and other members of his crew violated trespassing laws when they documented the hunt in the seaside town of Taiji, where 2,000 dolphins are killed every year, mostly to be sold as meat.

The film shows fishermen on small boats banging on poles to frighten the dolphins into a cove, where they are then killed with spears. The cove is closed off by barbed wire, and the film crew had to film much of the footage covertly. The film has won more than a dozen awards and led to an outpouring of outrage at the hunt.

Initially, it wasn't part of the program for the Tokyo International Film Festival (which opens Oct. 17) but was added partly because of pressure from abroad. Psihoyos said he wasn't concerned about getting arrested if it was for the right cause, saying he sees covert filming as a form of civil disobedience. He also says he disagrees with how Japanese authorities were defining trespassing, because the cove is in a national park.

Taiji, Wakayama, Shikoku

Taiji is a town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama, Japan. As of 2007, the town has an estimated population of 3,444 and a density of 577.85 persons per km 2 . The total area is 5.96 km². Taiji is the smallest local government by area in Wakayama Prefecture because, unlike others, it has not experienced a merger since 1889 when the village of Moriura merged into Taiji. Taiji shares its entire overland border with the town of Nachikatsuura and faces the Pacific Ocean.

Taiji has been well-known as a whaling town and is considered as the birth place of Japan's traditional whaling method. Taiji is a major center for dolphin drive hunting. 2.000 Dolphins are slaughtered every year or sold to the Marine entertainment business. Dolphin meat was sold in food markets and given to school children when it contains very high levels of mercury and is not fit for human consumption. The Japanese government has been doing it's best to hide this slaughter form public view and keep a needless fishing tradition alive. Help stop the needless slaughter of the worlds dolphins.

pics by strokesonfilm via Google http://www.panoramio.com/user/728061

"The Cove" : "La Crique" in French language. Actually I already talked about this dolphins massacre in January 2008 in a post "Whales, dolphins, tuna exhaust: what is wrong with Japan's taste?" Here http://preview.tinyurl.com/y9frb8p

LDP leader election: back together again...?

Time for renovation : A picture of the 3 LDP candidates taken

at FCCJ on Friday 25th. LDP leadership election will be only the

second presidential election to be held while the party is

out of power, following the 1993 leadership race, in which

Kono's father, former lower house Speaker Yohei Kono, was

chosen. I emceed this FCCJ event with the 3 top LDP, impressed

by the strong attention from the party elders like Takeshi Noda,

13 times re-elected and 1 of the top chiefs of the election

campaign.

Emceeing the event with a 130 passionate audience I felt that

the LDP kept a lot of supporters, and again came to my mind

the idea that LDP lost the last election not because of its

inner factions conflicting views but because it kept too long

time the control over the country's policy making with an

delusive inner vision while ignoring the political reality

that the world was changing and moving on. In this regard, a

page was turned August 30. More inter action between present

Japan, its neighbor and world challenges is required now.

Regarding the agenda and "the forces in presence":

The Liberal Democratic Party will choose its new party leader

on Monday to revitalize itself in the wake of its severe

defeat in the August 30th election. 3 candidates : the

former Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, 64, and two

younger LDP members, former Senior Vice Justice Minister Taro

Kono and former Parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Yasutoshi

Nishimura, both 46 years old.

Tanigaki, a party heavyweight whose past portfolio includes

minister of finance and chairman of the LDP Policy Research

Council, is ahead in the race and likely to capture about

half of the 199 ballots allotted to party Diet members

,according to LDP quoted by the Kyodo agency : "I’ve been

surprised by how many people say they want to see the LDP

back in the sumo ring grappling with the DPJ," Tanigaki told

at FCCJ conference.

Tanigaki, a distinguished and mild-mannered policy expert,

appears to be increasing his support among local party

members and maintains an overall lead, Kono, quoted as being

a maverick and fiery critic of the LDP old guard and their

faction-based politics, appears to be gaining more favors

with party members as a new generation type, outspoken,

clear, with a message and a reflection of why LDP got lost at

last month election. Nishimura appears to be rivaling Kono

with regard to Diet members' votes but lags behind the other

two among local party members due partly to his low name

recognition.

Kono and Nishimura tried to paint the race as a choice

between the younger and older generations, calling for a

clean break with faction-based politics, which has defined

the LDP for decades. Tanigaki, in contrast, calls for LDOP

fiefdom and generation's gap conflicts reconciliation and

unity within a party often prone to internal strife, calling

on all party members, both young and old, to come together to

forge a path toward a new LDP party.

Whoever wins the leadership race, the LDP faces the task of

reviving a party that has lost almost two-thirds of its

members in the 480-seat House of Representatives. The

crucial test for the new LDP leader will be the House of

Councillors election next summer 2010.

In the 242-seat upper house, the DPJ retains a majority with

the help of its two junior coalition partners -- the Social

Democratic Party and the People's New Party. If the LDP can

increase its presence in the chamber as the largest

opposition party and force the DPJ-led ruling coalition to

lose its majority there, it will be able to block or delay

the coalition's legislative attempts.

The immediate test for the new leadership will come Oct. 25,

when by- elections for the upper house are to be held in two

constituencies, in Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures.

One comment on LDP with Tobias Harris, an american specialist

of Japan politics who worked for a DPJ member of the upper

house of the Diet 2006-2007.

http://tinyurl.com/yetpphh

"One factor that I find worth exploring is the role played by

the LDP's virtual abandonment of bread-and-butter issues —

pensions especially — to the DPJ. The 2007 upper house

election and the 2009 general election were contested over

issues on which the DPJ's positions were overwhelmingly

favored by the voting public, insofar as the elections can be

said to have been concerned with policy. While voters may

have had their doubts about various DPJ proposals, the DPJ

managed to tell a convincing story of how LDP rule had

faltered and why "regime change" was necessary. Central to

this story is the LDP's yielding livelihood issues in the

years since the end of the bubble economy. In short, the LDP

did not have to lose, at least in the manner in which it lost

this year. A critical factor in explaining the LDP's

collapse is, I believe, a shift in how the LDP presented

itself to the public. Despite having been the party that

presided over the economic miracle and guided Japan — with

the bureaucracy, of course — to a position of global economic

prowess while maintaining social equality, by 2007 the LDP

had abandoned this legacy."

(end of comments, reports and ap, kyodo, harris news)