Power of Mirror
Everybody knows how much the nation pays the prime minister of Japan.
But, no audiences know how much a TV station has paid famous Japanese TV journalist Mr. Soichiro Tahara, though he was reportedly forced to end his 20-year program of political discussions.
Some people who support the ruling DPJ and its Director-General Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, however, praise Mr. Tahara as he triggered the fall of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and Ryutaro Hashimoto of the LDP 17 years ago and 13 years ago, respectively.
Indeed, transparency is a key to democracy.
Would President Mr. Barack Obama invite a journalist without knowing he is pro-Democratic, pro-Republican, or independent?
A Japanese journalist should be political independent. Otherwise, he might be regraded as a betrayer, if he claims that he has simply changed his ideology.
SECTION I: Confucius and Zi Lu
Zi Lu ("Shi-Ro" in Japanese) was a kind of genius among those who followed Confucius in ancient China around 2500 B.C.
However, Zi Lu was serving a kingdom as high ranking officer in 481 B.C. Yet, the kingdom was attacked; its castle was occupied and its king was captured, while Zi Lu was not there.
Zi Lu decided to go back to the castle to save his king, though people tried to stop him, since there were so many enemy soldiers in the castle.
But, Zi Lu said, "I have got a salary from the king. I have to reward him," going into the castle, fighting against enemy soldiers, and falling down on the floor under so many swords of enemies.
But, Zi Lu said, "A master never loses his crown even when he dies. Wait for me to check it," putting on his crown again, facing his enemies as a master, and then receiving so many swords of enemies.
But when Confucius heard that Zi Lu had gone back to the castle to save his king, the great philosopher said about his senior follower, "Zi Lu had gone. He must have been killed."
Then afterwards Confucius and people heard the news that Zi Lu had been killed trying to save his king, which made Confucius grieve so much, since Zi Lu was a senior and genius follower of him.
You may recall that when Caesar was assassinated in Rome in 44 B.C., he checked his clothing so that he did not look sloppily dressed while falling on the floor under several knives of betrayers in the assembly house of Roman Senators.
In my opinion, Zi Lu became the origin of the Japanese samurai.
It is so, since reading the Analects of Confucius was included in subjects for education of samurais whose political era ended in 1867 and whose spiritual era ended in 1945 in Japan.
SECTION II: Japan's Deflation and Koizumi Administration
In 1992, Mrs. Michele Schmiegelow was awarded the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial foundation prize for her work "Strategic Pragmatism : Japanese Lessons in the Use of Economic Theory" coauthored with her husband Mr. Henrik Schmiegelow.
She also wrote some on deflation in Japan in publication by the German Association for Asian Studies in 2003.
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ASIEN, (April 2003) 87, S. 78-86
Which "Recipe" for the Japanese Economy?
Michèle Schmiegelow
...
The Cabinet's anti-deflation policy made a significant breakthrough in March 2002. For almost the entire first year of the Koizumi government, there was dogmatic dissension among Japan's economic policy leaders on whether deflation is a monetary problem amenable only to monetary solutions, or a result of structural shortcomings
calling for structural changes. Policy-makers in charge of economic, fiscal and structural policies espoused the former view, leaving the job of coping with deflation to the Bank of Japan.
...
In fact, this bridging of dogmatic cleavages was called for both in terms of theory and the realities of the situation. For the deflation besetting Japan is a very composite phenomenon, neither exclusively monetary, nor exclusive structural, but certainly both. In fact at least four different origins of Japan's current deflation can be identified with relative ease:
1. the debt deflation left over from the bubble:
...
2. technology-induced deflation:
This pattern was present in the 1930's as well. At that time, the assembly lines brought steep price declines. Today, information technology has a similar effect, especially in a technologically leading country like Japan. This is a definitely nonmonetary phenomenon, which no government in its right mind would try to combat, yet filters into national price statistics.
3. deflation induced by 'locational competition':
Foreign locations offering lower costs of production attract domestic industries to produce abroad and sell such lower cost products at home. In Japan, this is currently summed up as 'China deflation'. Entire sectors of Japanese industry such as the once highly competitive optical industry have moved much of their assembly to China...
4. the so-called deflationary spiral:
It is caused by consumers waiting for ever further price declines before deciding to spend. The text book response, suggested to Japan by Joseph Stiglitz among others, would be not monetary but fiscal, i.e. previously announced temporary increases of consumption taxes...
The most ambitious target of the Koizumi strategy is evidently the reform of the functioning of government. As discussed above, from an economic point of view, this is not only an end in itself, but could serve as a necessary instrument for setting Japan on course for growth as a mature economy. Mancur Olsen explained Japan's post-war rise by the fact that after the defeat it was less ruled by special interests than the victorious Anglo-Saxon countries.5 In the subsequent four decades of prosperity, it may have lost that advantage. One sure way to combat the rule of special interests is to combat non-transparent relations between individual law-makers and individual decision-makers of the executive branch of government. Such non-transparent interference was highlighted case of Muneo Suzuki, former Diet Member, Parliamentary Viceminister of Foreign Affairs and influential power broker of the Hashimoto faction of the LDP, who had used his LDP power base to exert extraordinary influence on the working level of the Ministry of the Gaimusho, including the use of funds, routinely bypassing the Minister. The Prime Minister confronted him openly, triggering his resignation, expulsion from the Diet and indictment for corruption. The best cure of such intransparencies is a clearer separation of the legislative and the executive branches of government. The place for transparent interaction between them is the parliament. This recipe is a very old and tested one: the separation of powers. In his efforts at political reform, Prime Minister Koizumi has a founding father of constitutional thought at his side: Montesquieu.6
http://www.asienkunde.de/articles/Schmiegelow.pdf
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This is unique in that a German female economist has linked deflation of Japan with Japanese lawmaker Mr. Muneo Suzuki in terms of the Koizumi strategy to reform the functioning of government by eliminating special interests.
Anyway, a Japanese house is smaller than an American's and a European's. People cannot store more goods due to limitation of spaces.
The Japanese land size is smaller than America's and Europe's. People cannot destroy nearby nature by industry any more unlike America and Europe.
The Japanese people are forced, at least psychologically, to stop buying and wasting goods and products, partly leading to deflation.
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There is a conspiracy theory about Winter Olympics female figure skating.
A Russian female coach of Ms. Mao Asda did not join her for months before and in this winter while Vancouver Olympics were coming near.
Ms. Mao Asda of Japan ended in the Silver Medal.
Yet, in Turin, Italy, Mao won the gold medal, the second victory in the world championship for the 19-year old skater.
Yet, there is a conspiracy theory about Winter Olympics female figure skating.
Or, every conspiracy theory might be akin to this conspiracy theory, true or not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/sports/global/28skate.html
Pro 3:29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
Pro 3:30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
Pro 3:31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.