"Hear Him"

(Who could accompany EEE Reporter in this bitter mission at the power center of Japan!; August 29, 2009)


Great and Smart 2% or 4% in Election or Environment


I have a feeling that the global warming boom is going to be dwindling, though the likely rise in sea levels cannot be neglected for some time.

----------
"Even doubling or tripling the amount of CO2′ will have 'little impact' on temps"

From New Zealand Climate Science

Professor Geoffrey G Duffy
DEng, PhD, BSc, ASTC Dip., FRS NZ, FIChemE, CEng

So what are the key players in ‘Climate Change’? The major driver is the sun. Warming depends on the sun. Cooling is due to the lack of sun’s energy. Radiant energy enters the earth’s atmosphere. Air (on a dry basis) consists mainly of nitrogen 78.08% and oxygen 20.94%. Of the 0.98% remaining, 95% of that (ie 0.934%), or almost all is the inert gas argon. Carbon dioxide CO2 is a trace. It is less than 400ppm (parts per million) or 0.04% of all the atmosphere (on a dry basis). Surprisingly, less than a fifth of that is man-made CO2 (0.008% of the total), and that is only since the beginning of the industrial era and the rapid increase in world population.

CARBON DIOXIDE CO2
BEST ESTIMATES OF THE LOCATION of CO2 as carbon (C)

Giga tonnes Gt (BILLION tonnes)
Atmosphere...........................750 Gt
Oceans – surface......................1,000 Gt
Oceans – intermediate / deep.........38,000 Gt
Vegetation (soil, detritus)...........2,200 Gt
............................................41,950 Gt

Annual EXCHANGE of CO2

Ocean surface – Atmosphere............90 Gt
Vegetation – atmosphere.................60 Gt
Between Marine biota and Ocean Surface.......50 Gt
Oceans( surface-to-deep).................100 Gt
Human emissions* (coal, oil, nat. gas)............6 Gt <2% 306 Gt

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/04/even-doubling-or-tripling-the-amount-of-co2-will-have-little-impact-on-temps/
----------

The above table tells that CO2 emission ascribed to human activities accounts for less than two percent of the total amount of CO2 output and input to the air from various sources.

However this fraction of "2%" is significant in any matters.

One example is that Japan's Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso believed that he could maintain his power by winning the 8/30 general election through acquisition of 2% more voters.

In the previous 9/11 election of 2005, the ruling parties got 34,875,400 votes (51.43%) while the opposition parties were totally voted for by 32,935,669 voters (48.57%).

Though the ruling LDP and New Komeito were given 327 seats among 480 of the Lower House, the difference was just 3%. If 2% had moved from the ruling coalition to the oppositions, the former would have only 49.43% while the latter would enjoy 50.57%.

Before the official campaign period began for this 8/30 election, Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso must have been informed that the reverse of the 9/11 election could happen.

Accordingly, Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso must have thought that he could win as long as he could take back 2% of voters that had started to shift to Mr. Yukio Hatoyama's DPJ from his LDP.

It must not have looked difficult for veteran politician Mr. Taro Aso to get 2% more support mostly from yet-undecided voters.

In this context, it is very reasonable that LDP president Mr. Taro Aso exhaustively stuck to it out to the end or till the day before the voting, running around Japan, addressing voters, and attacking the DPJ so as to get 2% more voters.

However, his calculation was wrong, no matter how much his great efforts deserved attention, since Mr. Taro Aso of the LDP fought like a lonely samurai general.

In the middle of August, there were 55 people among 100 who looked like having not decided to vote for any party. Yet, those who could be influenced by such campaign efforts accounted for only 20% or so, since 60% of 55 people must have been already conditioned to eventually vote against the ruling LDP due to wrong pension-management of the Government unless act of God had happened.

Therefore this "2%" is not "2 among 100" but "2 among 20 or so (= 55 - 55*0.6)." It was actually 10 among 100 true swing voters.

Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso failed in seeing the correct level of the hurdle, which was not "2 among 100" but "10 among 100." You cannot, of course, move 10 voters among 100 in the two-week official campaign period by your own effort, though you can for 2 voters among 100.

In the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, it was "4%." This swing 4% was, however, a fixed minimum result of the prolonged war on Terror, the health care issues, the subprime loan mortgage issue, and finally the 2008 financial crisis. It was the last fixed margin you cannot reduce. Yet, it is just 4% that gave Mr. Barack Obama a secured victory.

So, the fraction of "2%" is significant in any matters.

But, if mankind increases this "2% CO2" that totally accounts for "0.008% among all the gasses" in the air, the effect of CO2 absorbing heat from the ground and issuing it to the air again might not cause a change in temperature, namely 0.2- to 0.4-degree rise from the normal level, since it is "big 2%" against the yearly average temperature of about 15 degrees Celsius for the earth.

How much one molecule CO2 and total CO2 molecules in the air contribute to the rise of temperature of the earth must be scientifically reviewed.

You would probably need 12 sets of new equations but not single set as used currently in the United Nations.
*** *** *** ***

Now, that is all for this week...baby...




(Ah, quel moment magique! It is not only for 308 seats taken by the DPJ on 8/30 of this summer election. It is neither for only 119 seats taken by the LDP despite the 9/11 election victory four years ago. But, how the goddess of victory would smile in Paris, New York, and Beijing? Anyway, democracy has won as you must have so wished, dear, before it is too late.

http://www.softjock.com/MIDI/ThisMagicMoment.mid

Source:http://www.softjock.com/JukeBox1.htm)



Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

Mar 9:6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

Mar 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

"He Was Transfigured Before Them"

NHK TV reporting on lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa's new role
Asahi Tv reporting powerful veteran Ozawa's new role in the DPJ
Hatoyama-Obama telephone talk...keep on smiling
Presented by Fuji TV from Tokyo...keep shoulders relaxed
(Somebody said, "A man receiving money from TV stations should not talk bossily, since he receives money from TV stations..." It is really hard to be respected by the people, if such a man promises not to harm viewers and the audience.)


Is the global warming steadily progressing, since it was a little cold summer in Japan in 2009?

Ranking of Annual Mean Temperature
#.....Year....Change from Normal Temperature
1.....1998....+0.37
2.....2005....+0.32
3.....2006....+0.31
3.....2003....+0.31
3.....2002....+0.31
6.....2007....+0.28
7.....2004....+0.27
7.....2001....+0.27
9.....1997....+0.24
10....2008....+0.20
11....1990....+0.19
12....1995....+0.16

(http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/press/0902/03b/world2008.pdf )

The global temperature in 2008 was lower than in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

If the global warming is gaining a momentum, the year 2008 should have been hotter than those preceding years.

In short, the trend of a global temperature rise looks like having hit a peak in 2008.

I may check more evidences and some underlying theories later.


SECTION I: Historical Relations between Japan and China

Japanese people traditionally called letters imported from China more than 1500 years ago "Kan-Ji."

"Kan" means the name of the second ancient Chinese dynasty Han ("Kan" in Japanese) that dominated the mainland China between 206 B.C. and 220, namely after the Qin Dynasty.

"Ji" means a letter(s).

So, Kanji means letters imported from the Han Dynasty. However, it is not clear when and how Chinese characters were brought into Japan.

---------
Chinese characters first came to Japan on articles imported from China. An early instance of such an import was a gold seal given by the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 57 AD[1].

It is not clear when Japanese people started to gain a command of Classical Chinese by themselves. The first Japanese documents were probably written by Chinese immigrants. For example, the diplomatic correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of the Liu Song Dynasty in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji
---------

In my theory, those who fled the Qin Dynasty and the First Emperor of China and arrived at the Japanese islands, like Xu Fu ("Jyo-Fuku" in Japanese), must have hated their homeland, since the era of Qin was full of wars. They might have kept silence on what was going on in China to ancient Japanese people. Those early immigrants from China would not even go back to China in any future.

(For example, the First Emperor sent 300,000 troops to the Mongolian plateau and 500,000 troops to southern China as part of his military campaigns.)

And, most of the fleers to Japan must have been soldiers and farmers who were illiterate. If they could convey the spirit of the ancient Chinese Civilization, they must not have brought much of ancient literature.

In addition, if tens of thousands of people came to Japan over a century from the rise to the fall of Qin, they must not have had a critical impact of many innocent people living in the Japanese islands.

Yet, in the era of Han, situations must have changed.



(To be continued...)

*** *** *** ***

If a Japanese prime minister casually writes blog remarks in English and makes any misspelling, he will be surely disqualified.

If his English sentence is inappropriate in terms of quality, he will be also disqualified.

So, such a prominent Japanese person never casually writes an essay or a composition on his own in English to make them open to the world, like this blog.

Generally speaking, for any Japanese to write to his blog in English is very risky business, if he is good at English or graduated from an American university.

By the way, it is not so easy to correctly pronounce Japanese Kanji characters used in various contexts requiring a different pronunciation according to a specific context.

Even today, I myself have sometimes found that I once memorized a wrong sound to a certain expression of a Kanji idiom.

As you must know a correct pronunciation of a Kanji letter to type it from a keyboard to a PC (and then to convert it to Kanji on a display screen), such a mistake can be an obstacle to any non-nonsense work.

By way of caution, I can write in Japanese better than in English, as a matter of course.

You had better study Japanese.





(Oh, chérie, il faut 40 ans pour M. Ozawa pour être le directeur-général du Parti démocratique du Japon depuis qu'il est devenu un législateur. Yet, it is just seven years since October 2002 when Mr. Koizumi could take back some Japanese abductees from N Korea. Isn't it somehow a proud record, is it, since 40 and 7 are holy?

http://geocities.com/midicentral2000/beatles/_050888/OhDarling.mid

Source:http://geocities.com/midicentral2000/beatles/AbbeyRoad.html)


Mar 9:2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.

Mar 9:3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Mar 9:4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

"The Light of the World"

(Around a Subway (tube) Station called "Kokkai-Gijido-Mae")


A Japanese is different from a Chinese like an American is from a Frenchman.


The American elite used to grumble, "I don't know who is in charge with what authority in the Japanese Government, the ruling party, and other powerful members of the Japanese society."

But, it has never been an obstacle to promotion of deep relationship between Japan and the U.S.

It is so, since the Japanese side has taken a very careful approach to maintain a good relationship with the U.S. based on deep understanding of the American power elite.

However, as the Liberal Democratic Party, the main ruling party in these 55 years, lost in the election so as to hand over the political power to the Democratic Party of Japan, the matter might become a little complicated.

The DPJ will be more pro-China than the LDP is; but it will be the same as the Wall Street is nowadays pro-China.



SECTION I: Historical Relationships between Japan and China

If a Japanese boasts that he understands English people and England better than Americans, most of Americans would doubt his consciousness.

So, when I hear an American, who cannot even read and write Japanese-Kanji letters (originally Chinese letters imported 1500 years ago or before), claims that he understands the relationship between Japan and China better than a well educated and informed Japanese, I cannot help but doubt his business.





(To be continued...)




(Et enfin 480 roses sont entrés en fleur, though I do not especially like a rose, as you know, since cherry blossoms flower in the spring.

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~UD3T-KRYM/902-jasrac/0901-s-baragasaita.htm )



Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Joh 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Joh 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

"Be of Good Cheer"

(Prime Minister's Office, Tokyo)
(Around the Diet Bldg.)
(Parking Place for Lawmakers)(On August 29, 2009, nobody knew how this virtually year-long general election campaign, since Mr. Taro Aso replaced Mr. Yasuo Fukuda as prime minister, would end on August 30. But, where were they? Where were they on August 29? I alone exercised the sovereign authority, provided by the Constitution for every Japanese citizen, at the right place. So, where were they while the nation was to face a historic drama?)


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


There is an English proverb, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Yet, what does it mean to you, specifically? To your astonishment, some people do not find beauty in a golden star but in gold coins.

There is also an English proverb some Japanese sometimes knowingly refer to:
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

It is said that the original form is "He is full of good intentions or desires" as so written in the Bible.

However, they often misunderstand its implication.

If you are born super-rich and raised super-rich, you will be surrounded by those who toady to you with words of flattery.

In addition, you will be also surrounded by those who really respect and admire you, since they read you wrong, believing that you must have received blessing from God or the god of wealth. They will praise you from the bottom of their hearts as they want to partake in your fortune and good luck.

If you communicate with 100 of such persons every day, you will surely think that everybody in the world respects and admires you. Then, you will proudly start for the hell, since 10,000 people envy and hate you behind such 100.

So, if you are super-rich, you must not try to be president or prime minister of any nation.



SECTION I: View on Humanity by Japanese and the Anglo-Saxons

Any Japanese cannot be perfect in understanding humanity if he mastered Confucianism.

Not all the Anglo-Saxons are critically imperfectly influenced by Christianity.

Just looking back at the proceeding of bilateral and multilateral financial negotiations since the Plaza Accord reached on September 22, 1985 at the Plaza Hotel, New York, most of Japanese involved and concerned felt that they had to deal with a very aggressive type of the Anglo Saxons in the international arena since Japan along with its economic growth came to pose a threat to the the U.S. in terms of the financial power as well as the industrial power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_Accord

The cultural differences between the Japanese and the Anglo-Saxons were felt more in the financial competition than in the industrial competition.

Indeed, what drove the trend of very aggressive Anglo-Saxon monetary behaviors was not only their view on life, human beings, and the world but also the development of computer/telecommunications technology and, especially, related software power.

Yet, an approach to these technologies is highly influenced by a view on humanity.

That is why the American society could leverage the power of PCs and the Internet more than the Japanese in 1990's.

To tell the truth, it is a big enigma why Japan, having almost won the industrial war against the U.S. in late 1980's, could not leverage the new IT technology lucratively, especially, in the financial sector to overwhelm the U.S. in 1990's.

This situation is deeply rooted in different views by Japan and the U.S. on humanity.

Just like after the Great Depression in 1929 the U.S. had become more Anglo-Saxon than Christian, after the Plaza Accord and the Persian Gulf War the U.S. became more Anglo-Saxon than Christian, while the Japanese have been always under Confucianism.

Consequently, the Japanese elite had lost respect for the U.S. Government after the Great Depression in 1929; some Japanese lost respect for the U.S. Government and the U.S. financial sector after the Plaza Accord and the Persian Gulf War.

Finally, after the launch of the War on Terror and the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. became more Anglo-Saxon than Christian, so that much more Japanese lost respect for the U.S. Government and the U.S. financial sector.

The coming Hatoyama Administration in Japan is conditioned by this trend.

The basics in this context are that the new Japanese Cabinet to be led by Mr. Yukio Hatoyama is not Anglo-Saxon, Christian, American, but more Confucian value-oriented.

Most of members of the Democratic Party of Japan are not anti-America or anti-Christian, but pro-Confucianism.

It is so, since Japanese are more traditional Confucian value-oriented than today's Chinese are.


(To be continued...)


*** *** *** ***





(L'étoile d'or briller dans le ciel sombre utilisé pour ressembler à me bénissant. It now looks like blessing me and you. It is so, since the Diet Building is to regain its old color shade.

http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/j-senzen/kiramekuseiza.html)


Mat 9:1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

Mat 9:2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

"Which Shall Not Taste of Death"

(Japanese National Diet - Congress - Bldg. since 1936, photos taken by EEE Reporter on August 29, 2009)


AFTERMATH OF GREAT CIVILIZATION

The August-30-of-2009 General Election drew a lot of attentions from the world unlike any past national polls in Japan.

They say that the Hatoyams are a kind of the Kennedys, the Obama phenomenon has reached Japan; or Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, virtually authorized next prime minister, must be thankful for support from socialists and anti-LDP groups.

Indeed, lawmaker Mr. Yukio Hatoyama wrote some in op-ed of The New York Times:
----------
A New Path for Japan

By YUKIO HATOYAMA
Published: August 26, 2009

The financial crisis has suggested to many that the era of U.S. unilateralism may come to an end. It has also raised doubts about the permanence of the dollar as the key global currency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/opinion/27iht-edhatoyama.html
----------

If Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, soon to be elected as prime minister of Japan in the Lower House, opts to make an alliance with China in the economic terms, those in Washington D.C. and New York who have taken for these decades an arrogant approach to Japan, the greatest democratic nation in Asia, would change their behaviors, since they have been sweetening China so fervently.

By the way, there is a criticism against the Japanese media.

Some notable conservative critic thinks that the Japanese media had once created an air and driven a wind in favor of war before WWII. Even Imperial generals had been influenced and driven by the wind the media had fanned with their pens. He thinks the August-30-2009 Election was fanned by the media as with the case of September-11-2005 Election launched by then P.M. Mr. Junichiro Koizumi.
(http://blog.kajika.net/?eid=984762)

Yet, it was not a simple atmosphere or airstream that has caused this change in the national Diet of Japan. It is history or a specific part of history.

The result of the election is manifestation of history clothed in an air and wind of the era, though some critics, political analysts, pundits, commentators, professors, economists, authors, bloggers, and even TV news casters in Japan might try to take their shares of credit in realizing this regime change.

(If I had contributed any to the DPJ victory, it would be just 250 of 308, as you know [laugh]. The rest might be yours. Anyway, joking aside...since it is widely regarded as a kind of self-destructive campaign of Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso for the LDP.)


SECTION I: Influence on Japanese of Confucianism

For Anglo-Saxon people, Christianity is the first and the last culture and religion.

But, in Japan, Christianity was introduced after the Buddhism and Confucianism.

For Anglo-Saxon people, the Greco-Roman Civilization is an indirect incident.

But, in Japan, the ancient Chinese Civilization was directly introduced by people who fled the mainland China due to atorocity of the First Emperor of Qin and constant wars around and after 200 B.C. One example was Xu Fu (Jyo-Fuku in Japanesse) as I mentioned yesterday.

For Anglo-Saxon people to be civilized, learning of Christianity is a must.

But, for Japanese people to be civilized, learning of Christianity has been redundant.




(To be continued...)





(Même un homme en lambeaux, que je suis, peuvent se joindre à une révolution, si bien dire à la reine à Paris, le cas échéant! So, "meet me at Yasukuni" was a test word for Imperial fighter-plane pilots. Yet nobody welcomed me at the Diet, though it was just a day before the voting day and the site was under repair work!! Nonetheless, they must be very sorry, sooner or later.

http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/j-sengo2/ippondokko.html )


Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

"The Truth Shall Make You Free"

(Diet "Kokkai" Bldg., Tokyo, August 29, 2009)


JAPANESE DREAM!!!


Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso's conservative LDP has been enjoying a stable support base, while Mr. Yukio Hatoyama's liberal DPJ seems to be steadily acquiring new supporters.

......+........June.....+.....July.....+.....Middle of August of 2009
LDP...........18.4%....15.1%......17.1%
DPJ...........15.5%....18.6%......18.4%
Undecided....58.1%....55.7%......53.0%

(http://www.jiji.com/jc/v?p=ve_pol_politics-support-pgraph)

As those who did not answer their preference before the election campaign period, 8 of 53 voted for the LDP; and 45 of 53 voted for the DPJ, if numbers of seats won in this election are proportional to the approval ratings.

Result of August 30 General Election for total 480 Lower House Seats of the Diet ("Kokkai" in Japanese):

....+..........Seats Taken.....+..........Ratio of Seats after August 30 Poll
LDP.........119 (300 before)......+.....25%
DPJ.........308 (115 before).....+.....64%


As the LDP won overwhelmingly the previous election held on September 11 (11/9), 2005, they have obtained 119 seats this time.

As the DPJ has won overwhelmingly this election held on August 30 (30/8), they have obtained 308 seats this time, which is a kind of miracle.

Yet, the real ratio of votes taken by the two major parties in Japan is 2:3.

...............Number and Ratio of Votes in Proportional-Rep. Constituency
LDP.......18,810,217.....26.7%
DPJ.......29,844,799.....42.4%


Anyway, now how LDP lawmakers, as well as DPJ winners, behave decides their value just like Mr. George W. Bush and Mr. John McCain after Mr. Barack Obama's victory in 2008.

LDP: Liberal Democratic Party since 1955, close to the U.S. Republic Party
DPJ: Democratic Party of Japan since 1998, akin to the U.S. Democrats

(And, LDP Ms. Yuriko Koike, the former Defense Minister of Japan, has somehow secured her seat in the House of Representatives (Lower House) despite DPJ ex-Foreign Minister Ms. Makiko Tanaka's strong support for Ms. Koike's opponent, through a consolation system in a proportional-representation constituency of the Tokyo election block.

Ms. Satsuki Katayama and Ms. Yukari Sato might make a come back someday to the Japan's Parliament as an LDP lawmaker, each, again.)



SECTION I: Japan and Ancient Chinese Civilization

To master literature, philosophy, and art of the ancient Chinese Civilization, including Confucianism, has been a great dream for educated Japanese since 2200 years ago when a strange adventurer called Xu Fu ("Jyo-Fuku" in Japanese) came and stayed in the Japanese islands originally to find elixir of immortality for the First Emperor of China.

Xu Fu is today even regarded as a model of the First Japanese Emperor "Jin-Mu" in the Japanese Myth, according to some historians.


(To be continued...)



(Je n'ai certainement regardé la télé déclaration de vote jusqu'à la minuit. But nobody could enjoy a party forever. But I alone checked the Diet Bldg. before the historic defeat of the LDP, since it might have looked like a House in decay...as no Representatives of the people were there then...

http://www.fukuchan.ac/music/jojoh/kojonotsuki.html )



Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

ONE MILLION DOLLAR BALLOT EACH

(Japanese National Diet Building, Tokyo, August 29, 2009)


(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

(If you had pictures of the World Trade Center having been taken on Sept 10, 2001, or pictures of Hiroshima having been taken on the day before the nuclear-atom bomb attack, namely August 7, 1945, you should think that they worth one million dollars!)



(If each ballot paper is worth one million dollars, it is total ten-thousand trillion yen or 100 trillion dollars for the Japanese general election with 100 million voters, since 100 million times one millions dollars is 100 trillion dollars.)


OK, now I am going out for voting to exercise my one-million dollar right, since today August 30, 2009, is the Japanese general election day to choose 480 new Japanese Obamas. [at 12:10 p.m.]

My voting is a very fair voting, to be democratic, imperial, and holy.

For Your Reference [2:45 p.m., Japan Time]:
"NY TIMES - Japan Prepares for a Change as Voting Begins"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/world/asia/30japan.html?_r=1&hp
*** *** *** ***

Appendix: Approval Ratings for 2 Major Japanese Parties

Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso's conservative LDP has been enjoying a stable support base, while Mr. Yukio Hatoyama's liberal DPJ seems to be steadily acquiring new supporters.

......+........June.....+.....July.....+.....August of 2009
LDP...........18.4%....15.1%......17.1%
DPJ...........15.5%....18.6%......18.4%
No answers....58.1%....55.7%......53.0%

(http://www.jiji.com/jc/v?p=ve_pol_politics-support-pgraph)

For compariosn with the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election:

........+.........+..........Popular vote......Percentage
John McCain........59,934,814.....45.7%
Barack Obama.....69,456,897.....52.9%

In summary, only the fear of losing pensions 70% of the Japanese people might have can explain the forecast by all the Japanese media that the DPJ will win overwhelmingly.

Anyway, polling stations will be closed at 8:00 p.m. of today, Japan Time.

[6:00 p.m., Japan Time ]