Downfall of a Shadowed-Shogun, Ichiro Ozawa indicted for accounting fraud!

Often compared to the French politician Talleyrand

Ozawa Ichiro today indicted over fund misreporting

In Japan it is a political shock, a major political turmoil! I was told by reliable sources about this sure thing 2011 indictment of Ozawa, it was a while ago, then again a few days ago and it was confirmed to me very recently. This morning, I uploaded on my facebook wall a picture of an evanescent Geisha of Niigata to alarm my friends and colleagues. Then, 2 hours after, NHK announced the indictment of Ozawa. Why a picture of a Niigata Geisha? Because Niigata was the constituency or Tanaka Kakuei, the symbol of the money politics and Ryotei expensive "Japanese restaurants behind the scenes" system.

Today, Japan attempts to secure, at great risks and expenses, a temporary end to the logic of the era of Niigata strong man Kakuei Tanaka who stated that "Democracy-is-about-numbers." It is a dangerous choice for the Kan administration when knowing who the distinguished target's pedigree is.

It might certainly take 2 to 3 years to investigate the case, paralyzing Ozawa's obsession with power and politics, but the shadow shogun might have lost one battle he certainly did not loose the war. Just an interlude.

This latest scandal targets Ozawa's political funds management body called Rikuzankai. "It's alleged to have failed to report in 2004 and 2005, the use of 400 million yen which had been transferred to its account. It had used 340 million yen to buy land in Tokyo." Then to the general surprise, the Tokyo prosecutors dismissed his indictment, but a prosecution review commission of lay juries decided twice that he should be indicted. Here we are now.

DPJ founder and Parliament member, Ozawa Ichiro became at 46 the youngest secretary-general of the LDP, the Liberal Democratic Party. But he also made (and sometimes broke) several prime ministers, Tanaka, Takeshita, Kaifu, Miyazawa -the Americans hated him for this one- and instigated a more assertive Japanese type of politics, more distant from the USA, closer to China, the rising power of North East Asia. A more reformist Japan while handled by tricky and fuzzy decisions murmured behind thick curtains.

Ozawa is the first who weakened the LDP after 38 years of power and opened the road to success for the reformists. It worked clumsily with Morihiro Hosokawa - heir of an Edo era Lord- early 90's, in the first attempt to break the uninterrupted rule of the LDP party and a system. It was called "the 1955 system."

It took then several years for Ozawa to build a legitimate alternative to LDP in dividing the party, and bringing together leftists and rightists, in this estrange maelstrom of politicians reunited into a program surnamed "the DPJ manifesto". Its ideas brought DPJ to power in 2009, Yukio Hatoyama became prime minister. A first.

But similar to all tragedies, including what happened to the French Revolution, Danton and Robespierre ended chopped off, or as in a Freudian explanation where the son kills the father, it is the ex-leftist and current prime minister Kan who struggles with the abusive political godfather Ozawa and kicks him today out of politics for a minor fraud on money politics, a so called "alleged misreporting of political funds."

Not much of a case, lawyers say. A lot of dangers ahead for Mr Kan. The question is will the DPJ take punitive measures against Ozawa, will Ozawa voluntarily leave the party or will he take dozens of politicians with him and possibly formulate a new party and decapitate his doubtful DPJ heirs from the supreme political power?

Nagatacho Hill, where the Diet and the Executive power are located, already knows that Ozawa Ichiro the "kingpin" will escape, get a non-guilty verdict and draw the line of an other political party, founded by him and his appointed skillful and ruthless to be, successor. Ozawa is very rich in political donations

Ozawa, the fan of Samurai drama and Geisha restaurants is a romantic-branded character by western writers - Karel Van Wolferen is preparing a book about Ozawa Ichiro- Ozawa worships the cult of heroes. He admires Okubo Toshimichi and Ito Hirobumi who have built a modern Japan during the Meiji Revolution late 19th Century.

Ozawa Ichiro is a chapter of Japanese contemporary history, maybe the most accurate visionary doted of the strongest will, a child born in Mizusawa, Iwate prefecture, as 3 other famous examples of ambitions and realization, Takano Choei, Saito Makoto and Goto Shimpei, scholars and politicians... But most certainly he identifies with a distant relation Takeda Shingen, the 16th Century Samurai hero of the "Warring States" period. To all Japanese it means Ozawa is prepared and well known for his mastery of the politics and battlefield strategies! More dangerous than ever.

This is where we are now in Tokyo. It will be a never ending fire-cracks, sharp tricks and fights for the months ahead and similar to the Japanese Samurais traditions, a lot of leaders will soon bear cuts on their "careers, plans and bodies."

To be continued.

Reporter's Notes and quotes.

Leaders and Leadership in Japan.

Downfall of a Shadowed-Shogun, Ichiro Ozawa indicted for accounting fraud! by Asian Gazette Blog of Joel Legendre-Koizumi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Crises en Afrique du Nord et au Proche-Orient

La théorie des dominos

On y est en plein. En plus "ils ont la haine". Et ce qu'on voit d'Asie c'est qu'après les pays de l'Est, c'est au tour du Proche et Moyen Orient. Mais sans la méthode Bush Cheney et leurs amis du pétrole et de l'armement, non merci. (Irak, Afghanistan)

Donc! Place aux réformateurs! Yémen, Egypte, Jordanie, Tunisie et Algérie. Les USA encouragent ces réformes pour l'Afrique du nord, PO et MO, ils l'ont dit très clairement (Obama, Gates), une période de transition est en vue avec une nouvelle direction dans ces pays?

En Egypte? Les traditions sont pesantes, un gouvernement demain devra-t-il encore être soutenu par l'armée? Nasser a commencé, Sadate et Moubarak ont perpétué la tradition. Donc le groupe qui attend au tournant aura-t-il aussi le soutien de l'armée? Et si oui alors on peut craindre d'autres affrontements, des batailles de rue et cela va donc "justifier", comme ils disent, une intervention armée et police.

Période très dangereuse. Il faut travailler aux solutions au PO et Afr d N, sinon... Bain de sang. Une fois trouvée, normalisation, quelques plans d'actions, gagner du temps, et nouvelle équipe. Ce sera du temporaire comme un Tunisie? Et puis en Egypte, Moubarak va bien devoir se retirer.

Ensuite soutien des USA aux nouveaux dirigeants, et comme toujours, des relations "privilégiées" genre USA Arabie Saoudite. Le Japon la Chine, concernés, vont banquer avec leurs extraordinaires ressources financières et le Japon politiquement et financièrement suivra tout ce que demandera Washington.

Wikileaks va s'en donner à coeur joie...

Reporter's notes 28 Janvier 2011

News from Japan: On the Record Please !

"Is the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Japan (FCCJ Tokyo) a new kisha club now also censoring reporting under the pretext of background briefing?"

This message and comments reached my mailbox today and I want to share it with you.

"FCCJ is inviting policy-makers and market players to have free discussions with journalists in the form of a background briefing and Q&A. Participants can take notes but must agree not to use what they hear in their output in any way. No electronic audio or video recording is allowed. Participation is limited to professional working-press members. Please show your FCCJ ID card when you sign in for the event."

What is it? They say "Can take notes but must agree not to use what they hear in their output in any way"?

"Ab Absurdo"!

Now, now, to oblige the reporters NOT to report is, journalistically, absurd and misleading. WE know what happens then. We also do not believe it is possible not to quote and report on what our sources told us. But we agree with the background briefings made to deepen knowledges of journalists, in an opened formula. This clumsy idea reflects a lot on the current FCCJ administration.

A few comments received from FCCJ colleagues, including from some ex-presidents of honorable experience and age and my favorite is this one:

-FCCJ is wrong and confused, it is exactly like Japanese behind-the-scene, Ryotei politics and the kisha club that is willing to follow it. These are so arrogant and look down the people in the country.

-Two former presidents including Hans van der Lugt invested considerable time trying to open up Japan's 'kisha clubs', so why would the FCCJ adopt the worst practices of the Japanese media industry

-Does the "press club" need to behave like the kisha clubs? This new trend is to expel FCCJ various membership from attending an event? Associates (those who pay the club's functioning) are going to be angry.

-I myself couldn't participate or work into English or on technical topics without a tape recorder to replay, and replay again, comments by speakers.

-More anonymity, what does the foreign press has to hide?

-If a reporter records, what is the FCCJ going to do? Suspend or expel someone for reporting? If what the briefer says is general knowledge, does that restrict us from reporting it? Even in a deepest background interviews, we have to work out some way that we can use the information.

-How is the FCCJ going to make money with this? Financial situation is already so dire?

-Putting out a notice, with the speaker's name, that means any comment ever reported will go back to him...

-If holding small, niche events is interesting as we have less people at our press events (including regular press conferences it's correct) but it did not work long in the past in the case of our Financial Tuesdays, Political Mondays, Photo Nights, and it was at a period when the press membership was larger. Now we need to be more creative and opened for the press.

-The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan has long prided itself in not bowing to the wishes of its guests. They may say "no comment", but they can't dictate the terms of the meeting. One of the best examples of holding the line was by my former co-chair, the late Naoki Usui, who rejected Japanese film giant Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa's handlers tried to insist that no questions be asked about an alleged suicide attempt. Usui, the committee's chair at the time, refused. We didn't get Kurosawa, but people around town knew that we had refused someone of Kurosawa's stature. It was a powerful statement about what the club stood for.

-Does it serve a public interest organization such as the FCCJ? What do the Government and the MOFA (Gaimusho) have to say about it at a time when the Hatoyama and Kan administration opened the kisha clubs? Ridiculous.

-Why do the foreign media want to forbid foreign media to report on the economics and financial events by a speaker, out of sense or mentality of the fearful (cowards) foreign journalists?

-I'm not opposed to "press only" events. Attributing comments to a senior BOJ official or senior MoFA official is a necessity and a duty for media.

-Is FCCJ just a "new Dejima island" place?

(Nota Bene: built in the bay of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1634, Dejima island was the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Dejima was built to constrain foreign traders as part of "sakoku" self-imposed isolationist policy. (Reference: Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog)

I have other comments but I limited to this for the time being...

Reporter's notes.

News from Japan: On the Record Please ! by Asian Gazette Blog of Joel Legendre-Koizumi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Censure au FCCJ, Tokyo! Quand des journalistes correspondants souffrent d'autisme accru!

En soutien des otages français

Hervé Ghesquiere et Stéphane Taponier

et de leurs assistants

"Le terme autisme tend a désigner aujourd'hui un trouble affectant la personne dans trois domaines principaux: 1) anomalies de la communication orale et - ou - non verbale 2) anomalies des interactions sociales 3) centres d'intérêts restreints."

Censuré par le FCCJ! Je ne croyais pas cela possible ayant fait beaucoup pour y protéger la liberté d'expression, avoir occupé des responsabilités depuis 5 ans, et avoir été élu au sein du Conseil d'Administration (Board of Governors) au Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan,

pour mon mandat en 2009 et 2010.

Et pourtant, la liberté de la presse aujourd'hui est bien en berne au club des correspondants étrangers au Japon. Motif: censure et verrouillage parce que la personne qui dirige le club aujourd'hui croit en la censure. Encore 5 mois...

Malgré nos efforts passés pour maintenir le bateau et malgré son statut associatif (NPO) offert par le gouvernement japonais, le FCCJ s'enferme couramment dans une série de mesures incompatibles (et malveillantes) avec sa mission d'information. En voici un dernier exemple et le rappel de précédentes.

En Décembre dernier, j'ai essayé d'attirer l'attention de mes collègues étrangers de Tokyo sur la situation des otages Hervé Ghesquiere and Stéphane Taponier de France 3 et leurs assistants par un article de 223 mots dans le magazine du club de presse des journalistes correspondants au Japon, le FCCJ. Cet article a été rejeté car ne présentant pas suffisamment d'intérêt... Nos otages apprécieront.

La présidence du club de presse de Tokyo est actuellement occupée par Georges Baumgartner de la Radio Suisse et le magazine "dirigé" pour encore 6 mois par un triumvirat composé d' un américain et 2 canadiens qui contrôlent le magazine: Doug Jackson, Steve McClure, et John Harris (secteur privé ou non-journalistes).

Jamais un tel manquement aux principes de solidarité et de liberté d'information ne s'est produit au FCCJ.

Ce magazine par tradition depuis la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale avait pour mission d'ouvrir les débats au coeur du club de presse et de publier des articles rédigés par les membres cotisants avec possibles travaux de l'extérieur. Le lien avec le monde réel des gens impliqués et non seulement le regard "d'observateurs."

Ancien co-président avec mon collègue et camarade Monzurul Huq (président du FCCJ en 2009 2010) du comité de la liberté de la presse au FCCJ, je proteste naturellement aujourd'hui contre ces méthodes de censure déguisée, typique d'une époque que précisément le Japon tente d'oublier, mais pas tous les étrangers qui y vivent.

Cela n'a pas empêché une grande majorité des membres du présent conseil d'administration de rédiger et d'avoir publié des articles pour le magazine mensuel du club en ce mois de janvier et de se faire rémunérer pour cela. 'Self-promotion', dit-on en anglais...

Je puis dire ici que j'avais refusé de toucher le moindre versement et indiqué aux acrobates du magazine du FCCJ que le bénéfice de cet article soit remis aux organisations humanitaires japonaises.

Bref: Dans cette affaire de quoi s'agit il? D'autisme accru, de malveillance, d'incompétence, de censure ou d'assujettissement à des intérêts particuliers, financiers ou politiques? Ne peut-on parler de l'Afghanistan aujourd'hui au sein du club des correspondants du Japon, pays on le sait, lié aux Etats Unis par un traité de sécurité militaire?

Peut-être. Je pense simplement qu'il s'agit de jalousie et d'incompétence des "éditeurs" du Number 1 Shimbun, non journalistes et/ou engagés dans des activités lucratives hors les murs.

Nous avons eu en outre de nombreuses conférences de presse et communiqués du club et articles dans le magazine du FCCJ suite aux enlèvements, prises d'otages de journalistes en Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines, etc. dans un passé récent.

J'avais évoqué lors de mon mandat au Board du FCCJ, au printemps 2010, le manque de transparence des activités du FCCJ de Tokyo dans divers dossiers (paiements de services non approuvés par les Boards précédents, gestion opaque des opérations d'achats, F&B) au point que le ministère japonais des affaires étrangères avait alors ordonné au FCCJ de respecter les règles de droit d'association et de se mettre en conformité avec son statut (NPO, Shadan Hojin selon le code japonais).

Parmi ces règles, la libre circulation d'idées et de débats...

Cet article, court, est disponible ici et est du même style que ce qui a été publié ailleurs en décembre 2010 par Le Monde et d'autres quotidiens français et étrangers, il a été bâti avec des extraits de communiqués, de quotidiens nationaux français et de dépêches d'agences de presse, mis en forme et traduit en anglais.

Depuis j'ai reçu des témoignages de sympathies et de stupéfactions par de nombreux collègues et amis et de tous continents. Ma seule réponse aux messages est un merci sincère mais également un appel

à

la vigilance!

Il ne faut pas baisser la garde mais lutter contre les censeurs, et continuer d'informer pour obtenir la libération de nos collègues de France 3,

Hervé Ghesquiere et Stéphane Taponier et de leurs assistants mais en outre de tous ceux que le métier a envoyé dans des geôles sombres, et a plongé dans le désespoir, et avant tout: celui du mur du silence!

J'espère donc et d'autres collègues de même que, l'espoir faisant vivre, le FCCJ "se reprendra" et continuera d'engager un dialogue et une flamme professionnelle, celle des journalistes critiques et qu'il ne se contentera pas de devenir le relais des agents de "Comm," de relations publiques, privés ou publics.

Mais ce sont des espoirs bien frêles si l'on croit le témoignage "des anciens" et ex-membres qui ont quitté ce club de presse ou y songent par désintérêt pour ce bateau qui dérive de sa mission.

Voici donc le texte de l'article court censuré par le FCCJ:

"1 year ago, the two journalists Stéphane Taponier and Hervé Ghesquière were abducted with their escorts, Mohammed Reza, Ghulam and Satar, in the plain of Kapisa, Afghanistan, by a group of Talibans.

Journalist and cameraman for France Television, (the French national broadcasting) they were reporting for France 3, the TV channel program "Pièce à conviction." Their detention longer than for Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, longer than for Florence Aubenas. They joined the painful cohort of journalists hostage for long periods.

Having spent three weeks alongside French troops engaged in the field, they decided to collect also the vision of the Afghan people who are the first victims of this war, to produce a report on a conflict in which France is party involved.

For freedom of information, we must fight every day to get everything done to free the two French reporters and their three companions. I have launched this appeal several times under my mandate at the FCCJ Foreign press club in Japan as co-chair of the FCCJ Freedom of the Press Committee. Today I join again all my colleagues in France and in the world to ask to their captors the liberation of our colleagues and of their team, they are messengers, witnesses, not actors of wars. Their struggle is information, don't bind them with ropes of ignorance and cruelty."

(NDAG 21-01-2011: This article has been sent to the Number 1 Shimbun, the magazine of the Foreign Correspondents 'Club of Japan financed by our membership, but it has been rejected by the press club editors in spite of the EMERGENCY. Our hostages in Afghanistan and all the media might not really appreciate, as we, such a censorship by current FCCJ 2011 administration.)

Reporter's Notes

Censure au FCCJ, Tokyo! Quand des journalistes correspondants souffrent d'autisme accru! by Asian Gazette Blog of Joel Legendre-Koizumi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Kobe earthquake, 16 years ago! Is Japan ready today?

My memories of Kobe Earthquake today after 16 years...

I was in Kobe covering for the French National and International Radio and Television the Great Hanshin earthquake which stroke the area on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46. Reporting all day long from my Tokyo office, I then caught the first shinkansen rolling after 5PM, I reached Kyoto in the evening, then Osaka, then walked to Nishinomya and then walked all the way to Kobe along the debris, destruction and the desolation.

Told by Paris I was the first French reporter there, I also met a GB colleague of BBC on zone. While fire, screams, and horror went on and on, I did reporting on a society which had collapsed. I stayed all week reporting for my francophone network and thanks to my contacts and my knowledge of survival in crisis area, an heritage of the military academy school, I did lots of encounters, and met a lot of bravery among the victims, but what hurt most the people was the abandon they were left in.

Beyond reports, I also worked on healing the wounds and pains of victims. Sharing food, water. I reported as if I was myself a refugee and witnessed what the situation was hour after hour. Authorities escaped by official cars, some foreign diplomats shut their offices and ran away, hotels of Kobe locked their doors so that victims could not enter and take refuge. Fire-men had no water left in their trucks while fire broke out in many areas of Kobe. The City Hall became a nightmare!

The region reached such a level of devastation that Japan authorities appeared paralyzed. It took 3 days for help to reach the region, then those journalists who had stayed far away from danger started to pop in. What had they seen? Nothing. Paris City-hall sent the French firemen whom with their dogs saved numerous lives.

Someone said I won a prize for reporting, but what I just heard of was my national and international radios competing for my reports during that week. (Radio France, RFI, etc). I never got in mind to report for a prize as my attention was entirely focussed with the news and proper coverage of the situation. Besides, some of these news-stations did not act very courageously later on.

The Kobe victims were without water sometimes for 5 days! They remained under collapsed houses for 1 week! I was lucky I could survive as many aftershock shattered the region of Kobe after-while. Later on I wrote the story for a magazine which came to the eyes of the German ambassador who had good words after this work. I'll never forget this catastrophe.

A few months after I covered an other disaster that happened the same year: The Tokyo metro Sarin urban-terrorism attack led by the Aum Shinrikyo sect of the Guru Asahara. What if something similar happens today, earthquake or volcano eruption, disease or serious security crisis. Is Japan ready? I do not think so and so does Professor Toshiyuki Shikata, Security Counselor to the Tokyo Governor. I organized a panel discussion on "Security and Crisis Management in the Megalopolis".

Here is the MP3 URL for members http://bit.ly/e4TTI2 

A catastrophe of international repercussion may happen each second of our life in Japan!

Reporter's Notes

Kobe earthquake, 16 years ago! Is Japan ready today? by Asian Gazette Blog of Joel Legendre-Koizumi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Ce que cache l'expansion chinoise

Depuis Deng Xiaoping, chacun des dirigeant chinois, Jiang, Hu, affirme que les forces armées chinoises sont incapables de gagner une guerre moderne! Si l'on compare avec les forces armées européennes ou surtout américaines, c'est vrai. Quelques amis chinois m'ont donc dressé un petit plan de réflexions de manière à mettre à jour mes vues sur les "problèmes régionaux" en Asie du Nord-Est, je vous les livre traduits "brut de fonderie".

Devant ce qu'ils perçoivent comme des offensives en mesure de nuire à leur développement économique, les Chinois ont cherché à développer leurs systèmes de défenses contre ce qu'ils considèrent comme "des menaces américaines immédiates": donc, contre les drones, contre les avions furtifs, les missiles de croisière et les hélicoptères d'attaques, contre la marine etc, dont la fonctionnalité n'est plus à démontrer depuis les conflits ou zones d'instabilité (Irak, Afghanistan, Corée du nord, Moyen-Orient, Afrique du Nord). En mer aussi le pouvoir d'intimidation des forces américaines a contraint la Chine à mieux concevoir son implication stratégique dans "sa mondialisation".

Ce qui donc a changé depuis les années 90 c'est la certitude qu'ont les stratèges chinois de devoir défendre plus encore leur territoire, leur Chine nationale, y compris les îlots taïwanais et les autres, bref tout ce qui semblera compatible avec les ambitions historiques chinoises, sur les océans et mers du sud. Pour cela, la Chine et ses portes-voix y vont "fortissimo" en mettant en avant les intérêts stratégiques nationaux dans les espaces maritimes, aériens, spatiaux et sans omettre le cyberworld, à la fois au plan national comme à l'étranger...

Les écrits théoriques vont bien au-delà des idées simplistes d'interdiction d'accès de certaines zones maritimes. Les tâches sécuritaires immédiates sont clairement définies: la protection des eaux territoriales (redéfinir les cartes marines, les litiges territoriaux avec le Japon et d'autres pays asiatiques), l'interdiction d'accès de l'espace aérien chinois, la défense des zones dites stratégiques, y compris outre-mer. Mais leur mot-clé est défense pas offense. Nuance ou foutage de gueule?

Voila en quelques mots ce qui apparaît aujourd'hui être une (la) vision stratégique chinoise. Un concept autrement plus vaste et pas nécessairement vindicatif comme celui mis en avant en permanence par les stratèges japonais ou américains et l'Otan selon lesquels la menace chinoise est offensive.

Je la vois défensive ni plus ni moins. La Chine a des ambitions, celles de se prémunir contre les atteintes aux droits fondamentaux de son territoire, de sa culture, de son sens de l'histoire. La Chine a des ambitions dignes du XXIe siècle. Mais sont-elles calquées sur un modèle occidental?

Dire que la Chine est une puissance pacifiste et non interventionniste à l'image du fétiche national, le Panda, serait une grave erreur d'analyse, car si le Panda se nourrit énormément et son appétit est insatiable, son ardeur à y parvenir est stupéfiante. Mais son poids est aussi son pire obstacle. Ici, pour la Chine, le poids, c'est sa population. La démographie (les masses dans l'orthodoxie du PCC) est une politique qui détermine ainsi tous les impératifs depuis la révolution de 1949. Elle continuera de guider les pas du géant asiatique.

Et pour conclure, ce papier que je lis dans Time, suite aux recommandation de cet éminent co-listier du NBR forum Rodney E. Armstrong qui écrit: "It is puzzling that the American introduction into East Asia last June of at least two giant Ohio class submarines, each capable of firing volleys of 154 Tomahawk conventional-warhead missiles over ranges up to 1000 miles, has not been widely publicized in Japan or East Asia."

Title "U.S. Missiles Deployed Near China Send a Message"
http://bit.ly/e8NMeM

Image panda juggling & Reporter's Notes

Scenes from a Toxic Marriage between Tokyo Media & Politics

Tonight (January 14th) press conference from Prime Minister Kan at the Kantei was an other awful description of how some of the Japanese journalists assigned at prime minister Kan or at the Kantei are nothing but really full of themselves. During the Q&A some of them shouted to Mister Kan in saying: "You do not answer to the question, I asked you this etc..." On 2 or 3 occasions I thought there was an intention to push him to end the conference. The tone was improper and it is not journalistically acceptable.

But the issue here is that, as usual, these self proclaimed local media people ask the same questions and want an answer for their Editor in chief, eventually for their readers and do not always have the intelligence or the professionalism to understand the progression of answers and questions.

I emceed and anchored hundreds of events with guests and I admit that I rate Naoto Kan and his PR staff with 3 stars for this handling of the press conference given after his cabinet reshuffle in spite of the aggressions disguised in questions as seen during the conference nationally broadcasted.

The worst is that the message of Kan is not conveyed to the public. An other consequence of the cheating system imposed by the "kisha club system".

Most interesting would be if someone at Kantei could dispatch an exact copy into English of the exact session held on this including the Q&A ? I imagine the result will show that indeed some at the Sankei, Yomiuri or Asahi have not at stake the situation of the country but simply care about their little vanity or ratings. In any case a good reason not to buy their paper regarding the account of Kan's government part II. At a time when crucial realism is expected, who can trust these parodies of journalists?

Needless to say that we were half a dozen foreign journalists invited to attend this prime minister conference and to ask questions, and, after the conf' we 3 or 4 of us all had the same perception of the aggressive tone of the Japanese reporters. Is it a new trend, one of us asked? It looked very amateurish.

So!

What is it behind the media war between public, media and Japanese politicians? Rating? Conformism? Money? All. Not necessarily informative debates are offered to viewers as planned by PR departments and tough guys who pose as media. Still today in Japan, local & national journalists continue to gamble with truth or financial interest of dark origins.

Sometimes the "war" is intense not to reveal the fact and offer the links of understanding to their audience. Nothing of that sort in the west? Not what I mean, but democracies favor transparency. Conformism or fear of extreme authority? (for instance read Nietzsche on individual power theory).

I remember the strange collaboration of some Japanese TV stations with authorities, gangs or dangerous sects (Aum sect for instance), or the lack of questioning as long as the kisha club has not given the green light. We have had a good example during the Sumo scandal recently.

Still there are people who work as useful idiots or worst as advocates of such bullying methods. I therefore found this insightful article from the Mainichi most interesting as it is revealing practices of bullying in the other medias, in politics and in social network spheres. Mainichi is certainly one of the best if not the best newspaper in Japan for reporting without an --arrogant--attitude.

Quotes:

Prime Minister Naoto Kan appeared on Hodo Station, a popular news program on TV Asahi, as a guest on Jan. 5. Usually, a TV program draws attention from viewers when an incumbent prime minister appears.

At the same time, BS11 was airing its talk show, "Inside Out," in which ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa appeared as a guest. A close-up of Ozawa's face was projected on a huge screen in the satellite broadcaster's studio while Prime Minister Kan and anchorman Ichiro Furutachi appeared on another small screen nearby.

"The network (TV Asahi) invited the prime minister to its program to face off against us," a staff member of Inside Out said. It was later revealed that some DPJ legislators were instructed by the prime minister's office to watch Kan on Hodo Station -- in other words, not to see Ozawa.

No wonder Kan harbored a feeling of rivalry against Ozawa as he declared at his first news conference of the year that he will urge Ozawa to step down in an apparent bid to prop up the popularity of his own administration.

Read the story here:

http://bit.ly/g3UbwD

Japanese version, quotes:

菅直人首相がテレビ朝日の「報道ステーション」に出演した。今月５日夜のことである。現職の首相が民放テレビに単独出演すれば注目度は上がるはずだ。

　その時たまたま、衛星放送局ＢＳ１１のスタジオで、前日ビデオ収録した対談番組「インサイドアウト」のオンエアに立ち会っていた。大きなモニターにゲストの小沢一郎・民主党元代表の顔。周囲の小型モニターには他局の映像が流れている。あれ？　首相が古舘伊知郎キャスターと並んで映っているぞ。

　スタジオのベテラン放送人たちにはピンとくるものがあったようだ。「おーっ、うちの番組に、総理をぶつけてきたぞ」

　後から聞いた話だが、官邸から総理を見るように（つまり小沢氏を見ないよう）連絡を受けた民主党議員がいたそうだ。

http://bit.ly/fkJfPJ

Have a good coffee!

Sources, Mainichi and Reporter's notes

Japan on the edge of a social dislocation?

Among the current problem that Japan encounters:

A summary of press agencies and reports of the new year's challenges: Dreadful. What is Magician Kan going to bring out of his hat?

Point 1: No hope: 30,000 people a year have committed suicides since 1998.

"Japan’s aging population, a growing national debt, the heavy reliance on manufacturing, lack of imagination, deep rooted conservatism, seniority (equal to a mental paralysis to progress), all of which are effectively killing what was once thought destined to be the world’s leading economic superpower."

Succeeding Prime Ministers in the last three years and a nasty diplomatic row with China over the detention of a trawler captain by the Japanese Coast Guard is also hurting. And a freeze with the US on the Security treaty obligations.

Not only.

Japan’s population falls due to a low fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman. It is expected that the population will drop from 127 million to just 90 million by 2055, with 40% of that number being over 65s.

No immigration, robots only. Crime and violence on the rise. Example shown in the manga and "anime", Japanese cartoons.

School Days was a controversy in Japan.

"The last episode of the series was banned

from distribution because of its barbarity"

Japan lived with 2 decades of economic stagnation, deflation being chosen in stead of a more vehement economy. Consequences: university students worry whether they can find steady employment or support their families, live their life and create a family, buy their house, make their dreams come true.

A third of Japan’s workforce is temporary workers or "Freeters" going from one job to another. They are unable to qualify for unemployment benefits, and make up more than three-quarters of the nation’s jobless.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Nato Kan, is to reshuffle his cabinet. Is he aware of the crisis? Yes, Has he solutions? He says he is to open the country, reduce trade barriers and tariffs and loosening regulations to make the country a more attractive proposition to outside investors. But is it attractive enough? Is the nation able to shift from 20 years of apathy?

"A free trade agreement with the U.S. and other nations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is also under consideration. Though it could lead to Japan’s economic revival and cheaper imports, it could also cause significant job losses and social dislocation of the rural classes."

PM Kan's wife was a desperate PR on Wednesday to her husband when she addressed pretty well actually the foreign media based in Japan. This will not be enough unfortunately to convince the Japan's flock that current administration is up to the challenges. She actually hinted at it, with words of extra safety care, saying he [Kan] was initiating a sort of new path of reform. Still we are in the 3rd modernization of Japan after Meiji, post-war re industrialization and today's Japan's being reinvented or looking for new models to this achievement. Maybe it goes better when using economy for people's benefits...

Sources: agencies, kyodo, nhk, yahoo, reporter's notes.