The Negishi Line & the Shuto Highway
The World Fastest Elevators (750 meters/minute) in Yokohama Certified
(Click to check.)Jeudi Jaune
A notable Japanese female economist said that America would be eventually undergoing downsizing to be half of its heyday before September 2008.
A notable Japanese economist said that the emerging Japan-China cold war would harm China more than Japan, though the yearly trade value with China is about $200 billion for Japan in 2009.
According to an Asahi Shimbun newspaper survey, 69% of voters want Mr. Ichiro Ozawa to resign as a Lower-House member. According to a Kyodo News Service survey, 63.8% of voters want Mr. Ichiro Ozawa to leave the ruling DPJ. However, Mr. Ozawa said today that he will continue as he is now.
So, I have a feeling the next general election will not be so far in Japan, since more than 60% of voters want a government that can pursue justice more resolutely, whether pro-American or pro-Chinese, or otherwise pro-imperial or pro-Christian.
SECTION I: The Cause of Rising Yen
In my thought, the central bank should be in a poorer state than real economic situations of a nation.
The central bank should be in a worse state than real economic situations of a nation.
The central bank should rather look uglier than real economic situations of a nation.
However, some stupid economists in central banks act like having a right to be served by the society.
To save national economy, you have to sacrifice the central bank, though it cannot be a kind of Judaists in Europe in 1930's
As a Japanese economist has discussed, the recent sharp rise in value of the yen against the dollar comes from a difference in actions between the central banks of Japan and the U.S.
( http://pokemon.at.webry.info/)
Having been spurned by the Lehman Shock of September 2008, FED has expanded its balance sheet, providing a huge amount of dollars to the American financial sector.
But, the Bank of Japan, probably being afraid of a shadow of possible inflation, would not issue yen bills at an emergency pace, since the Japanese financial sector was least hit by the Lehman Shock as with the Chinese one.
The imbalance indicted in the above figures is dangerous not only because of the sharp hike in the yen. It works to alienate both the economies apart from each other eventually, while a close relationship between Japan and the U.S. is a major factor for success in both the countries.
BOJ Governor Mr. Shirakawa does not have to win the Nobel Prize but has to stop behaving like a coward before a shadow of possible inflation.
SECTION II: Hitler's Successful Economics
First of all, economics depends on man's propensity for material happiness and acquisition of wealth as much as possible.
It includes the social convention and human psychology as hidden factors. In this regard, it resembles politics. Probably, economics and politics belong to the same sphere but at different levels. Surely, economics and mathematics do not share any ground. Anyway, a successful politician must be able to grasp relationships between various economic factors working and interacting in a real state of society.
Stupid economists think that economics is more valuable than a real economic state of society. But, a successful politician like Hitler, if the worst criminal in the religious field, could do something with help from economists.
a) Hitler put an economist in charge of national budget. The economist Hjalmar Schacht calculated how much Germany could issue government bonds without causing inflation. Schacht found that the limit was 1.6 billion marks. German national bonds were then issued as much as 1.6 billion marks to save the economy of Germany in 1930's. It was one proven example of economics as a tool for politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hjalmar_Schacht
b) Hitler offered loan to newly-wed couples without interest. A man and wife was granted 10 million marks without interest at their marriage. It was almost equal to an amount of a half-year salary for an ordinary worker at the time in Germany. In addition, if a man and wife bore four children, the couple was exempted from the duty of a refund of the loan. Accordingly, the number of marriages jumped up.
1932 - 510,000
1933 - 630,000
1934 - 730,000
This policy also raised the birthrate to 20%, while removing various problems resulted from higher unemployment of young Germans.
So, you can absorb this lesson to confirm the order: justice the first, reality the second, politics the third, and economics the fourth.
(http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%92%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%81%AE%E7%B5%8C%E6%B8%88%E6%94%BF%E7%AD%96-%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E6%81%90%E6%85%8C%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%AE%E5%A5%87%E8%B7%A1%E7%9A%84%E3%81%AA%E5%BE%A9%E8%88%88-%E7%A5%A5%E4%BC%9D%E7%A4%BE%E6%96%B0%E6%9B%B8151-%E6%AD%A6%E7%94%B0-%E7%9F%A5%E5%BC%98/dp/4396111517)
Hitler knew that he would be successful if he had obtained support from poor Germans the number of whom was so many.
Hitler knew that he would be successful if he had robbed well-off Judaists of their wealth.
Hitler failed because he did not respect justice enough, since he had not been well educated in terms of religion.
Indeed, justice is subject to religion, as observed in the 9/11 Terror in 2001.
SECTION III: October 2004 in Ozawa's Rikuzankai
In October 2004, the following money handling was performed by secretaries of DPJ lawmaker Mr. Ichiro Ozawa in the office of one of his political bodies named Rikuzankai (meaning a land-mountain-society in Japanese).
1) In Early October (i)
The secretaries opened a time-deposit account of Rikuzankai in a bank with 400 million yen they had collected from other bank accounts of other political bodies all represented solely by Lower-House member Mr. Ozawa. And at the same time, they are believed to have asked loan from the bank, most probably for a planned land purchasing.
2) In Early October (ii)
Mr. Ozawa handed 400 million yen in cash at his home to the secretaries for purchasing a land lot in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. This transaction was not put down in an official report to a government agency as "money received" by Rikuzankai (because it was for personal purchasing of land by Mr. Ozawa, according to Mr. Ozawa's claim).
3) In the Morning of October 29
The secretaries (as a personal deputy of Mr. Ozawa or as Rikuzankai satff?) paid 350 million yen for the land lot to its owner. However, no ownership transfer of the land to Mr. Ichiro Ozawa was registered as the secretaries asked for suspension. This transaction of money was not put down in an official report to a government agency as "money paid" (because it was personal business of Mr. Ozawa, according to their claim).
4) In the Afternoon on October 29 (i)
Taking as a guarantee the deposit the secretaries had opened in 1), the bank granted loan worth 400 million yen to Mr. Ichiro Ozawa as an individual person.
5) In the Afternoon on October 29 (ii)
Immediately after receiving the 400 million-yen loan from the bank, Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, as an individual, loaned this 400 million yen to Rikuzankai (though actual work was done by his secretaries) which was later put down in an official report to a government agency as "money received."
6) On January 7, 2005
Ownership transfer to Mr. Ichiro Ozawa was officially registered on the land plot in Setagaya. Rikuzankai refunded about 343 million yen for the land purchase to Mr. Ozawa, which was later put down in an official report to a government agency, however, as "money paid." So, they look like having tried to hide 2) and 3). This "money paid" is the only record concerning the land purchase that appears in the official report to a government agency.
At the same time, a special contract or confirmation was concluded between Mr. Ozawa and Rikuzankai, so that the land lot was transferred to Rikuzankai, though Mr. Ozawa continued to be nominally the registered owner of the land lot without any rights on it. It is because a political body cannot be a registered owner of land, according to Japanese laws.
( http://livedoor.2.blogimg.jp/gochagocha/imgs/4/9/493643fa.gif)
A political body run by a National Diet member in Japan needs to file a correct report about its money handling to a competent government agency.
It is illegal to file a false or inaccurate report. Lawmaker Mr. Ichiro Ozawa and his secretaries are now accused of this illegal reporting, subject to the Political Funds Control Law.
The point at issue is the omission of records related to 2) and 3).
Since Mr. Ichiro Ozawa had no intention to own or use the land lot for his personal use, this series of actions were all for Rikuzankai, Mr. Ozawa's political body, but not for Mr. Ozawa himself.
So, the money transfers in 2) and 3) must have been stated in an official report each as a money transfer between Mr. Ozawa and Rikuzankai and between Rikuzankai and the former land owner, even if both could be regarded as having happened on the same day, October 29.
Furthermore, as the contract or confirmation states that "Rikuzankai directly purchased the land from the former land owner using its own money (so that Mr. Ozawa has no rights on the land)," the 400 million yen from Mr. Ozawa's home is regraded as having been once transferred to Rikuzankai that then paid it to the former land owner. Therefore, it must be officially reported subject to law.
In addition, if the loan from the bank had been granted a little earlier in the morning of October 29, the secretaries of Mr. Ozawa should have used this loaned 400 million yen to buy the land lot. Indeed, how could they expect the bank to grant the loan several hours after they paid the cost of the land lot using Mr. Ozawa's personal 400 million yen?
But, as the payment for the land was done in the morning and the loan was granted by the bank in the afternoon, the existence of 400 million yen in cash kept in Mr. Ozawa's home was exposed to the public.
To make sure, this political body Rikuzankai was founded only to serve Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, a Lower-House member of Japan, but no other politicians of his faction (consisting of 100 or 150 lawmakers).
Now, refer to the three figures I prepared yesterday in this blog.
As for guilty or not guilty, since Mr. Ozawa prepared for himself the contract or confirmation that states clearly "Rikuzankai directly purchased the land from the former land owner using its own money (so that Mr. Ozawa has no rights on the land)," he must have been well aware that actions 2) and 3) were omitted from the official report.
Yet, we should not judge Mr. Ichiro Ozawa. His being guilty would not improve the Japanese society. But, everybody should understand what person he is.
(Why did Rikuzankai have to buy a land lot? If another bubble has occurred in Japan, a $4 million-worthy plot will be $8 million-worthy assets of some individual.)
SECTION IV: Political Funds & Political Bodies
To understand the Ozawa Problem, you have to be informed:
1) In Japan, for a politician, there are two types of money he or she can use at his/her discretion: political funds and personal money.
Political funds are money to be used by a politician, a political body, a political party, or any political entity to achieve its political goals.
As political funds are not personal assets, no tax is imposed on them. Rather, a political party in Japan receives political funds or subsidies from the Government, namely, from tax collected from the people. Political funds are quasi-official money, so that they must be duly identified publicly and legally.
2) Any transaction involving political funds must be officially reported to a competent central/local government agency.
All the money a political body handles is in principle political funds, so that every money handling in a political body must be duly reported.
However, a political body, even if founded for only one politician, reports money handling of its own. Its official report to a competent agency is concerned with itself but not perfectly the politician who manages and represents it. And, one politician can have two or more political bodies for his/her convenience.
3) In Mr. Ozawa's case, if he had purchased the land with his personal money, tax should have been imposed on the land he acquired. Or, if he had rent his personal money to his political body Rikuzankai, a tax office might have tried to examine how Mr. Ozawa had earned such big money so as to tax suspected and hidden earnings.
That is why Mr. Ozawa had strong motivation to hide the fact that he had 400 million yen in cash at his home.
Mr. Ozawa explained actually sources of this 400 million yen. But, his explanation has been changed a few times to sound unrealistic in each time.
Taking also into consideration another incident, Mr. Ozawa seems to have 800 million yen in cash at his home, at least, once several years ago, for whatever justifiable reasons.
Incidentally, today, Mr. Ichiro Ozawa announced that he will not resign as a National Diet member; he will explain his case in a parliament session, if so requested, which he has refused so far.
Again, I think we should not judge Mr. Ichiro Ozawa. I hope a court that will duly start to try him in a few months will not judge him, though a citizens' panel has already decided to bring him to justice, according to the Revised Law for the Inquest of Prosecution.
*** *** *** ***
Around 1980 in Japan, every electronic engineer was thinking that Japanese major electronic makers would soon surpass IBM.
Nonetheless, the future of Intel and Microsoft were, of course, out of their sights.
Apple, Yahoo, and Google were beyond their imagination.
Japanese corporate workers were humble but narrow minded. Most of them loved too much law and order of their organization. Yet, mobility and freedom in the corporate-based society were expanding, though, in a conventional and traditional frame work of society. Indeed, truly, what was old and modern coexisted in those days.
But in 1980, Japanese Nobel Prize winner of 2010 Mr. Eiichi Negishi had been already in America for 14 years, since he left Japan for real in 1966.
How many viewers of this blog in America have a good memory of America of 1966?
Top grossing films (U.S.) in 1966
1. Hawaii
2. The Bible: In the Beginning
3. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
4. The Sand Pebbles
5. A Man For All Seasons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_in_film
Act 10:6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
Act 10:7 And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually;
Act 10:8 And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.