Category: Japan

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

Even though this post has nothing to do with toads or amusement parks, I chose the title in keeping with the anurian theme of this blog. But boy, wouldn’t this month’s Nikkei 255 make one hell of an exciting coaster ride?

January Nikkei

I smoothed the line just for a more pleasing visual effect, but the bounce back from the “Livedoor Shock” is clearly official. In fact, for the past two days the Nikkei 225 average has closed at highs not seen since September 2000.

Lacking the sophistication to explain the reasons behind this (and having had it correctly pointed out to me over the weekend that I am wont to jump to unsupported conclusions about Japan) I’m going to defer to the opinion of the “professionals” on interpreting this one. Analysts are citing several factors for the latest rally.

First, a nmber of positive economic indicators appear to have improved the confidence of investors. Starting with the labor market, employment data for December showed a marked improvement, with the ratio of job offers to job seekers balancing out at one to one, the highest it’s been since September 1992. The unemployment rate fell an additional 0.2 percent, to 4.4. percent, the lowest level in seven years.

Housing figures also look promising. Starts in 2005 rose for the third strait year, up 4% to 1,236,122.

Industrial production also rose by 1.4% (seasonally adjusted) in December.

Finally, gains by individual companies also seem to have played a roll.

A fall in the yen-dollar exchange rate has been a boon to profits of exporters such as Toyota, Honda and Advantest, all of whom closed higher on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, rising oil prices equal increased profits for companies like Nippon Oil and AOC Holdings, Inc.

Looked at as a whole, all of these figures (except perhaps for the higher oil prices) appear to suggest movement towards a stronger economy – higher corporate profits, more hiring, and increased consumption, etc…

But, while those factors are fine for institutional investors who have the resources to pay anti-social quant jocks to stare at computer monitors all day while mentally multi-tasking the application of Einstein’s general theory of relativity to global securities markets. But what about individual investors? The average Tanaka on the street, punching trades into his cell phone?

Well, in my humble, albeit relatively uninformed opinion, these guys might be basing their investment decisions on this:

Nikkei 225

Now, aren’t you sorry you didn’t buy in last fall?

Japan’s intestinal fortitude

Some of you may have heard the claim that Japanese intestines are longer, or in some other way, different from those of other people. This is of course just one part of the entire school of Nihonjinron (日本人論), or discussions on the uniqueness of the Japanese race/culture/nation/language. Unlike most of the nihongjinron pseudo-science (like Japanese use the opposite side of their brain to process language, etc.) this one sounds at least vaguely plausible. After all, there are all sorts of morpholigical differences between races; hair, skin, facial features, height, and so on. Could it be true?

Continue reading Japan’s intestinal fortitude

Makiko Tanaka is amusing

I’m binging on rotten.com tonight, and came across the following brief anecdote in their profile of President Bush (scroll to bottom):

17 Jun 2001 – Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka returns to German Town High School in Philadelphia, where she studied for two years as a high school student. During a conversation with her former classmates, Tanaka gives her concise assessment of President George W Bush: “He is totally an asshole.”

I offer a cash reward to anyone who can find audio or video of this.

The next Prime Minster? or, crazy rightwingers say the darndest things

For those who haven’t been keeping track of Japanese politics, a brief introduction courtesy of online Bloomberg news.

Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed Shinzo Abe, Taro Aso and Sadakazu Tanigaki as members of his final cabinet. All three are considered favorites to succeed him when he steps down in September.

“It is essentially a three-man race” to see who can replace Koizumi next year, said Noriko Hama, professor of economics at Doshisha University in Kyoto and former chief economist at Mitsubishi Research Institute. “The posts they’ve been given do harbor risks so any mistakes could be damaging. They will certainly jostle and compete with each other.”

Earlier today, Curzon emailed us a link to this brief news item on Yahoo Japan reporting a statement that Aso made on the 17th of October, at the opening of the Kysushu National Museum

Japan is one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, one race, none of which can be found in any other country.

This could be a surprise to the Ainu, Okinawans, Zainich Korean and Chinese minorities, and the hundreds of thousands of other foreigners legally residing in Japan, as well as the Japanese communities overseas. Come on, we have a Ninja restaurant in New York now, what more counter evidence do you need?

A couple of Aso’s other greatest hits, as translated from the Japanese Wikipedia entry by Adam:

* Claimed Koreans wished to change their names to Japanese names during colonial rule (an attempt to justify the Aso Zaibatsu’s colonial-era actions). Also claimed Japan helped spread the use of Hangul writing.
* When inaugurated as MIC Minister in 2003, made the bold prediction that office paperwork would disappear with the development of information technology and that everything would be done by magical new floppy disks in the future.

If only being this much of an idiot would disqualify him as a candidate for the Prime Ministership.

Separating shrine and state: why you shouldn’t expect a court to stop the Yasukuni visits

Article 20 of the Constitution of Japan says that “freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority… The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity.” Article 89 further states that “no public money or other property shall be expended or appropriated for the use, benefit or maintenance of any religious institution or association, or for any charitable, educational or benevolent enterprises not under the control of public authority.”

Like the First Amendment in the United States, these rules are just full of fun! If you think about it, they could make the Emperor illegal. (I don’t actually agree with this notion; it’s just one interpretation that could be drawn.) But they won’t make the Emperor illegal, nor will they make Koizumi’s visits to Yasukuni Shrine illegal… and even if the visits could be considered illegal, the courts aren’t going to stop them! More detailed explanation after the jump.
Continue reading Separating shrine and state: why you shouldn’t expect a court to stop the Yasukuni visits

When too much language is not enough

One of my best friends from college is now working as a pharmacist in Florida (a hell of a job to end up with after so much time in school). She’s Japanese. When I met her, she didn’t speak much English at all; now that she has a difficult graduate degree under her belt, she knows a bit too much. She recently told me about one situation where she politely asked a patient about the “efficacy” of his medication. The patient had no clue what she was talking about. After a minute of miscommunication, someone else behind the counter suggested that she say “Does it work?” instead.

The story reminded me of one experience I had in high school in Osaka. I had an earache one day, and went to the local ENT clinic to have it checked. The doctor, a wizened-looking old lady, peered inside and told me, in English, “You have timpanitis.” “Timpanitis?” I asked. That certainly wasn’t in my vocabulary at the time. She repeated the word a few times until I eventually figured out it must be a fancy way to say “ear infection.”

There were many occasions when someone would ask me about a certain phrase in English, and I wanted to explain that the phrase was a metaphor for something else. In most dictionaries, the Japanese gloss of “metaphor” is in’yu. While I memorized that word, I never met a single Japanese person who understood what it meant, even when I wrote it out; after a few failed attempts to communicate, someone suggested that I use chokuyu (“figure of speech”) instead. That one actually works.

Anyway, knowing too much of a language can often have the same effect as knowing not enough. I suppose the moral, especially for those of us working in wordy fields like law and medicine, is to keep things as simplified as possible. Imagine how much easier things would be if we all followed that rule…

Afterthought: “Metaphors in law are to be narrowly watched, for starting as devices to liberate thought, they end often by enslaving it.” – Benjamin Cardozo, former Supreme Court justice (apparently lacking a sense of irony…)

Monbu Daijin recommends martial arts as countermeasure to youth decadence

The most recent edition of Prime Minister Koizumi’s email magazine features an interesting article by Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Nakayama Nariaki.

nakayama

In the article, titled “My Proposal: The Encouragement of Martial Arts,” Nakayama writes:

Along with changes in socioeconomic factors in recent years, our children’s environment has changed drastically. Problems requiring our great concern are taking many different shapes, such as the deterioration of physical strength, the confusion of basic living habits, and common outbreaks of youth violence.

One of the causes of these problems is that in the post-war era, following the shock of our first defeat in recorded history, even Japan’s excellent traditions have been completely rejected. As one countermeasure to this condition, I would like to suggest the advancement of martial arts.

Martial arts have been developed by our forbearers throughout a long history and are a unique part of Japan’s traditional culture. Of course these arts aim to develop the body and mind through training, but they also seek to ultimately development one’s character, fostering a spirit of respect for civility and for one’s opponent. Thus, from the perspective of youth development, the advancement of martial arts is significant.

After reading the article, I took a look at Nakayama’s website only to discover that there is not a single mention of his rather impressive martial arts accomplishments (he has earned a 6th degree black belt in Karate and a 3rd degree black belt in Aikido). I found this rather disappointing and was even more disappointed to learn that that under his hobbies he had listed “reading” and “golf.”

Golf?

How is golf any better than dancing, which Nakayama criticizes as a waste of time?

To be fair, Nakayama was arguing in favor of the personal, spiritual, and moral benefits of martial arts during a youth’s formative years in junior high and high school. (He does tell us that his practice of martial arts had a great influence on his character development during his own early years.) Furthermore, since martial arts such as karate and aikido may be viewed as uniquely Japanese traditions I can certainly understand how their practice might, in addition to developing a strong character and other such benefits, also instill a healthy sense of national pride in Japanese youth.

However, I must respectfully disagree with the Minister that other disciplines, even non-Japanese ones, are a waste of time. Of course one’s dance or golf coach is probably not going to spend time lecturing on the fundamentals of ki or urging the use of force as only as a last resort. But when it comes to developing discipline, self-respect, perseverance, or other such universally admired characteristics, even sports such as golfing or dancing have a great deal to offer.

Surely even Mr. Nakayama could not look at Tiger Woods and with a straight face deny that golf has had a profound influence on his life in many of the same ways that martial arts probably had on Mr. Nakayama’s own life.

Koizumi on the radio

I found this a few minutes ago while digging around on the PM’s residence site looking for press conference transcripts (no luck).

Jun-chan

In spite of the majic mushrooms getting a shout out, this is unquestionably the creepiest bit of PR that he’s managed to pull out. I like the electronic newsletter, but the violin music in the background, combined with the sickeninly soft tone of his voice (he’s talking about postal privitization for God’s sake!) and the interviewer’s cluelessness make it sound like the beginning of some kind of bad porn flick.

“I’m the greatest, no?”

“Hai.”

“I really showed those monkeys in the upper house who’s boss, didn’t I?”

“Hai.”

“Admit it, I’m the sexiest man alive.”

“Hai.”

“Hail to the king, baby.”

“Hai.”

Okay, sorry about that. I try to make an effort to keep things somewhat serious on my posts, but if Koizumi is going to use taxpayer money to make radio advertisements for his spaghettiwestern soundtrack…

…then I’m going to make fun of him.

Controversy in Japan over Bernanke’s appointment as Federal Reserve chief

Saru found this great article in the Yomiuri Shinbun online. Since they only keep articles online for a short time and this is the entire thing, I won’t bother searching for the link. Important bits in bold.

7 teenagers held after homeless man beaten

Seven high school students have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a homeless man near the Arakawa river in Tokyo in July, reportedly motivated by curiosity about interest rates, following talk earlier this week that the Bank of Japan may end its quantitative easing policy early next year, police said Tuesday.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department and Nishi-Arai Police Station, the youths, aged 15 and 16 and from four metropolitan high schools, said they assaulted homeless people on about four occasions. Police also are investigating those cases.

According to the police, the students are suspected of dragging the 43-year-old homeless man out of his plastic tarpaulin lodgings under a bridge in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, and beating him. They also allegedly set off fireworks aimed at the homeless man, bruising him.

The youths reportedly told the police they targeted the homeless man because they presumed he would not report the assault, and because he, “looked like that old dude with glasses who, like, sets interest rates in the U.S. and stuff.”

“His face looked funny when he became angry, not like that new Bernanke guy, and it was a way for us to let off some steam,” one youth allegedly told investigators.
(Oct. 27, 2005)