Unique Premier, Unique Baseball, but More Unique Value
Japan has a parliamentary cabinet system. Prime minister of Japan is designated by the parliament (called the Diet) which consists of lawmakers individually elected by eligible voters as well as proportional representation lawmakers.
(Japan has no president, for it has emperor.)
Theoretically and constitutionally there is nobody in Japan that can deny or override a decision the prime minister (as a cabinet) has made. Japanese prime minister has the same, supreme power as presidents in many countries, including powers to levy taxes and command self-defense forces.
However, the prime minister is also an elected lawmaker in the Diet. Therefore, if he steps down from the position of prime minister, he can still enjoy privileges of the Diet member.
This may be one of the reasons why the prime minister of Japan is so often replaced by new one.
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Different from U.S. president, Japanese prime minister has to appear before a plenary assembly and various committees of the Diet.
If the president of the U.S., Russia, China, or France is severely attacked and accused by congressmen in committees almost everyday during a session, while being televised and broadcast live nationwide, he must loose face, dignity, and popularity. But, it has been a statutory challenge that a premier in Japan has to take on.
Therefore, it is important that a ruling party, to which prime minister belongs, gets as many seats as possible in a national election.
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In today’s budget committee of the Diet, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi referred to the victory of the Japanese baseball team in World Baseball Classic (WBC). In this context, he said that Japanese economy was picking up as people had stopped looking at the darker side and started working out in a courageous manner like the Japanese baseball team in WBC.
He also gave an account of people’s health issues, revealing that he sometimes uses Oriental medicine such as acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. And, he listened in a good mood to recommendation a member of an opposite party offered on possible cooperation between Japan, Korea, and China for promoting Oriental medicine.
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It is 1890 that the first Imperial Diet was convened. So, Japan has its democracy anyhow over three centuries.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may be the first prime minister, in Japan’s history of politics, that has clearly aimed at adopting American style competition in various sectors of the Japanese society.
Nonetheless, the baseball team built on tradition of the Japanese style of baseball, called Yakyu, has got the supreme mastery in the international matches against foreign teams mostly relying on Major League players.
(Japanese children start to learn how to play Yakyu or baseball using a rubber ball instead of a regulation ball.)
It may be the time for some Japanese, Asians, and mankind to look back at their unique cultural value being left behind in their procession toward the so-called globalization being accompanied by 9/11 Terror Attacks, U.S. corporate scandals, Afghan War, Iraqi War, Madrid/London Terror Bombings, Paris Riots, and tragedies in Rwanda, Sudan, and Balkan States as well as the Livedoor-related incident in Japan.
“THEN THEY WILL FEAR THE LORD, AND GET GOOD GIFTS”