(Tokyo Station)Faith in the Morning & Death in the Evening in Contentment
There is a song in which it goes like "We can't wait for June!"
SECTION I: Ozawa, Hatoyama, & Kan
Mr. Ichiro Ozawa (1942-) could have been Japanese Prime Minister in October 2008, unless the Lehman Shock had happened, since he was the head of the Democratic Party of Japan at the time.
In late September 2008, then Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso was about to dissolve the Lower House, though he could not in fact due to the Lehman Shock and some shocking survey results predicting big loss of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the expected Lower-House election.
If the Lehman Shock had occurred a few weeks later or in October 2008, the general election must have been launched by then P.M. Mr. Aso of the LDP, resulting in victory of Mr. Ozawa and the DPJ. Accordingly, Mr. Ozawa should have been nominated as prime minister of Japan.
In reality, several months later, while Mr. Aso was painfully struggling in coping with a falling approval rating of his Cabinet, a political fund scandal surfaced around 40-year-long politician Mr. Ozawa, which forced him to step down from the top position of the party in May 2009. (It is also interesting that Secretary Mrs. Hillary Clinton visited Tokyo and met with Mr. Ozawa in February 2009.) Then, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama (1947-) was elected as the head of the DPJ. Mr. Hatoyama chose his younger rival Mr. Katsuya Okada as Secretary-General of the party, going into the general election held on August 30, 2009, eventually to win the big victory.
Yet, if Mr. Ozawa had not decided to step down due to an arrest of his secretary on suspicion of illegal reporting of a political fund, Mr. Ozawa should have assumed the premiership after the election. Indeed, general expectations for the regime change among the Japanese people were so strong and hot that even Mr. Ozawa leading the DPJ should have been able to win the drastic summer election.
So, it is a kind of miracle that Mr. Ichiro Ozawa is now not prime minister of Japan.
As Mr. Yukio Hatoyama decided yesterday to step down from the premiership due to his too-low approval rating while the Upper House election is scheduled this summer, everybody thinks that Mr. Naoto Kan (1946-) will be elected to the head of the DPJ in its convention tomorrow and subsequently as prime minister of Japan in the National Diet on the same day or so.
Before Mr. Ichiro Ozawa joined the DPJ several years ago, the DPJ had been mostly managed by Mr. Hatoyama, the key founder of the party in terms of political funds, along with Mr. Kan, a kind of popular, liberal politician since his graduation of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1970.
The human relationships between Mr. Ozawa, Mr. Hatoyama, and Mr. Kan must be of the most interesting concerns for professionals in the Japanese politics. Mr. Ozawa and Mr. Hatoyama are sons of successful politicians. But, Mr. Kan is simply an ex-liberal student of the era of the Vietnam War.
No matter how amateur Mr. Kan might look in comparison with establishment politicians, including Mr. Taro Aso, of the LDP that enjoyed power for 50 years or more till the last fall, Mr. Naoto Kan is from ordinary backgrounds of the Japanese society, thus being more trusted by ordinary voters.
Anyway, the story of the regime change in Japan has entered the second phase with the yesterday's public announcement of his resignation by P.M. Mr. Hatoyama (whose celebrity-natured flying over Nagata Cho District is thus coming to an end).
In my personal opinion, the DPJ should not elect their new head as prime minister of Japan this time. Instead, the DPJ lawmakers should ballot Mr. Shizuka Kamei of the People's New Party for the new prime minister, since senior lawmaker Mr. Kamei is now a Cabinet minister in charge of managing the internationally controversial Japan's postal service sector while he has been a big rival for ex-prime minister Mr. Junichiro Koizumi of the LDP who led Japan in a tie up with ex-president Mr. George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 Terror.
(However, I do not feel like saying, "Bye-Bye Hatoyama Junichiro!")
In summary, in Japan, it is still in an era of those who graduated from school in the era of the Vietnam War.
SECTION II: Advantage in History
Those who lived in a peripheral region to the center of civilization of an era could have sometimes great advantage.
One outstanding example is Alexander the Great.
Without great cultural backgrounds based on the ancient Greek Civilization, the great troops and legions of Alexander the Great should not have been so built up.
The deeper nation's cultural backgrounds are, the stronger its troops can be.
However, such a nation must be situated rather in a peripheral area to the center of civilization.
In this context, the Roman Empires was situated in a peripheral area to Greece in a wider scope than in the case of Alexander the Great.
England, Germany, and Russia were also situated in peripheral areas to the center of Europe before the 20th century, since the Vatican continued to stay in Rome.
America was, too, situated in a quite peripheral area to whole Europe in a far wider scope than in the case of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and modern England, Germany, and Russia.
The same goes for Japan. That is one of answers to the question, why were Japanese troops so strong during WWII?
(To be continued...)
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It is not bad to change the prime minister of a nation every year through democratic process.
It is democracy itself.
People and voters are executing their power.
Conversely, it is very dangerous, strange, and evil to allow one man to stay in the highest position in the government for years like in America and other nations.
Japan is the most advanced in this regard.
Accordingly, Japan will have a new prime minister tomorrow, though foreigners will not be able to enjoy this political spectacle since they do not share the national feeling of the Japanese people.
What I want to say is: "Is that guy the best in your country for years?"
Mar 6:2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
Mar 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
Mar 6:4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.