The Biter is Sometimes Bitten
The last Tokugawa shogun government opened Japan to the world in 1850's, abolishing a 250 years-long closed-door policy.
But, according to Meiji-modernization hero Yukichi Fukuzawa, samurais on the Tokugawa side were against opening Japan to the world at the bottom of their hearts.
Yet, samurais on the emperor's side against the Tokugawas were more against opening holy Japan to the world.
The domestic war between the two camps in 1860's resulted in the victory of the Imperial side. But, those anti-Tokugawa samurais soon changed their policy after forming the Imperial government, adopting the opening-the-door policy.
Yukichi Fukuzawa wrote 30 years after this Meiji Restoration of the imperial authority that Tokugawa samurais had been foolish but Imperial samurais had been more foolish, which might be why Fukuzawa never joined the Meiji Government.
Former P.M. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama reportedly took his position on Mr. Ichiro Ozawa's side from a concern that Mr. Ozawa would desert the DPJ if he cannot take over P.M. Mr. Naoto Kan.
But, Mr. Hatoyama might be accelerating demise of the DPJ, though he might be thinking that he is a hero saving the DPJ by supporting Mr. Ozawa in the coming periodic party election to choose the new head of the party, namely the new prime minister of Japan.
SECTION I: The DPJ vs The LDP
The world second largest and advanced economy Japan was administered by LDP Cabinets for half a century almost without interruption till last September.
The world second largest and advanced economy Japan is now administered by a DPJ Cabinet led by P.M. Mr. Naoto Kan since this June.
Yet, it is just a natural consequence of a series of events since the then very popular P.M. Mr. Junichiro Koizumi (LDP) spontaneously stepped down from premiership to provide a chance for his young successor Mr. Shinzo Abe in 2006.
http://www.esri.go.jp/jp/forum1/100706/gijishidai43_1_2.pdf It is one year from the start of the Abe Cabinet in 2006 to the Upper-House election in 2007 that brought about a drastic change in approval ratings for the two major parties in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan.
In this period, the LDP lost the lead and superiority over the DPJ being led by the then party head Mr. Ichiro Ozawa.
Indeed, one big startling thing happened: An exposure of administrative omission in pension fund management over decades affecting randomly millions of Japanese workers. Accordingly, one hundred million voters in Japan got shocked and then angry, though not violently, at the conservative LDP-led government, since any of them could be the one forced to receive no pensions or far less pensions than they were entitled to.
It is Mr. Akira Nagatsuma (presently a state minister in charge of pension fund management) that first made this quasi-criminal fact widely known to the public. Mr. Nagatsuma, a rising DPJ lawmaker, became a hero of the time. However, the then party head of the DPJ Mr. Ichiro Ozawa did not back or praise Mr. Nagatsuma at all, very strangely.
Accordingly, the ruling party LDP lost confidence. The then P.M. Mr. Abe lost the 2007 Upper-House election. The political tide drastically changed. This trend has become the underlying condition in the Japanese political domain to date.
Since 2007 or after the exposure of the large-scale governmental omission of pension funds, the DPJ has enjoyed the status as the most supported political party in Japan.
But, there were two exceptional periods when a major scandal rocked the DPJ, respectively: the Ozawa political fund scandal and the DPJ crisis in 2008; and the Hatoyama political fund scandal and the DPJ crisis in 2010.
In the crisis of the DPJ in May 2008, the then head of the party Mr. Ichiro Ozawa stepped down to be take over by Mr. Hatoyama.
In other crisis of the DPJ in June 2010, the then head of the party and P.M. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama stepped down to be take over by Mr. Kan.
In each case, after the resignation of the top leader in question, the approval rating for the DPJ was fully recovered.
But, now, Mr. Ozawa and Mr. Haroyama have tied up with each other to drive out P.M. Mr. Naoto Kan from the head of the party and premiership. The reason seems to be Mr. Kan's lack of respect for senior Mr. Ozawa who still faces a possibility of prosecution for his (suspected) illegal political-fund reporting.
A result of the 9/14 party election to choose a new head of the DPJ will highly influence the approval rating of the DPJ, since P.M. Mr. Kan and Lower-House member Mr. Ozawa (with support from Mr. Hatoyama) are going to contest.
In summary, Japanese voters are still in the aftermath of the shock of the exposure of the large-scale omission of pension-fund management in 2007. Accordingly, the LDP is yet to fully recover trust of voters. But, the DPJ might lose more trust if they choose a wrong politician as their head and the next premier in this difficult time of Japan and the world.
SECTION II: Who Support Mr. Ozawa (an autocratic Japanese)?
Who support Mr. Ozawa in the DPJ election campaign?
Those who hate America and want to abolish the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty but misunderstand the Mr. Ozawa is a hero who has been fighting America, in the so called liberal/socialistic camp.
And, those, in the so called conservative/traditional camp, who expect that Mr. Ozawa assumes office of premiership against opposition from a majority of voters, so that the possible Ozawa Cabinet will come to a deadlock, leading to an early general election. They also misunderstand the global and domestic situations that will not allow for such a strategy.
But, more fatal is the misunderstanding that 40-years-long Lower-House member Mr. Ozawa is a hero who has been fighting America for decades.
As Mr. Ozawa has had a kind of support from some part of the American Government and politicians, he can survive to date without damages such as Kakuei Tanaka, Shin Kanamaru, and Noboru Takeshita had to suffer.
Mr. Ichiro Ozawa is not an enemy of America but a kind of old friend, which his supporters in the leftist/socialistic camps do not understand.
Incidentally, it is well known that he likes the U.K., which tells he also likes the U.S.
Though Mr. Ozawa does not look like a spy working for the Chinese Communist Party or the U.S. CIA, he has never taken a stance to defend Japan from the Chinese Communist Party or the U.S. CIA.
Anyway, Mr. Ichiro Ozawa has neglected lawmaker's duty of accountability for so long, he cannot be qualified for the entry to a contest to elect Japan's prime minister, though even foreigners, mostly Korean and Chinese residents in Japan, are allowed to join and vote in the DPJ party election, against the principle of the Japanese Constitution.
(http://www.n-shingo.com/cgibin/msgboard/msgboard.cgi)
Anyway, some supporters for Mr. Ichiro Ozawa have to follow him no matter who and what Mr. Ozawa is, since they have made a sworn enemy out of old, traditional, and conservative LDP politicians, including ex-P.M. Mr. Junichiro Koizumi.
Incidentally, Prime Minsiter Mr. Naoto Kan is just an ex-anti-Vietnam War student of 40 years ago, nothing more and nothing less.
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It is said that it will take four months to rescue all the 33 workers trapped in a copper mine of Chile.
I urge the Pope to fly to Chile and give them a boost in morale and faith.
The Chile authority should send parts of disassembled PCs to them (smaller than 3 or 4 inches in the diameter), which can be easily assembled and connected to the Internet.
They have to also send, into the space 700 meters under the ground, parts and components of other disassembled machine, such as very compact air conditioners and various tools.
It is easy to make a tunnel horizontally. A modern tunnel boring machine made in Japan can bore a tunnel for 20 meters (7 feet) per day. So, if it can start from 1,000 m far on the same level above or below the ground as the collapsed mine shaft, it can reach the space where the miners are trapped within two months. Combination of vertical shafts and horizontal tunnels must be efficient.
Mat 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.