Fukuda says Abe’s ‘beautiful country’ panel waste of money
Japan Today - Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 06:53 EDT
TOKYO — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday that a now-defunct office established to promote his predecessor Shinzo Abe’s initiative to build “a beautiful nation” had wasted money…the government reported Wednesday that the office spent a total of 49 million yen in the six months until it was scrapped….

At least the new prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, is off to good start. The great stinko, former PM Abe, spent 49 million yen–$426,000 USD–for just two “beautiful” meetings. The only reason he wanted the entire ” program was to promote his book, Towards a Beautiful Country [美しい国へ] and to step-up forced “moral education” in the schools—dubious rightwing morals, which even the conservative daily, The Yomiuri Shinbun, found problematic.

Besides, it does not take a genius to figure out how to make Japan a more “Beautiful Country”:
Just ban the Japanese National Tree, the concrete utility pole.
Then attempt for the first time in Japan’s history to place underground the tangles of power and phone lines out of harm’s way in this earthquake-prone land, sheesh.

In case you haven’t heard, Japan’s Prime Minister Abe pulled a Britney by suddenly resigning last week and checked into rehab for “mental exhaustion” (and an impendeing scandal). This left Japan’s political scene in a lurch with the hyper-conservative, ultra-nationalist Taro Aso trying to take over, EEEK!

New favourite in Japan’s PM race
–The ruling LDP will choose between the two rivals on 23 Sept–
BBC NEWS, Sunday, 16 September 2007— Japan’s former foreign minister Taro Aso has conceded he is unlikely to win upcoming party elections to replace Shinzo Abe as prime minister. Speaking on a television chat show, he agreed that his rival Yasuo Fukuda was most likely to win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership vote.

According to my old Japanhand buddy, gboothe, “When the smoke settles, from what I hear, they’ll bring Aso off the bench to get the game going again. Although, he’s not out of the running yet, he’s also smartly playing it.”

On the other hand, Fukuda has vowed not to visit the Yasukuni (war-criminal) Shrine in a attempt to have better China ties. That’s a lot better than the Aso’s ranting’s about the Japan’s needing to honor the WWII war criminals at Yasukuni and drive out the ethnics (Chinese, Koreans, and mostly pale folks like me) from Japan.
Actually, pox on both of them since they are slime from the LDP…and “Japan under the LDP is the only country in which communism, by fact if not by name, ever worked.” Two turds in these are just swirling in the bowl and waiting to see who goes down first.
The way I figure it is that Fukuda is being given the hot potato—After the Social Security etc. scandals cool off, then the Aso will drop in to claim the spoils, meh.

For additional grins and laughs, read Japundit’s report about, A real Aso.

Pension agency workers embezzled Y100 mil in 1995-2006
Japan Today - Saturday, September 1, 2007 / TOKYO —Pension premiums, benefits and other funds embezzled by workers at the Social Insurance Agency totaled around 113 million yen in 26 cases in the 12-year period between 1995 and 2006, the government said Friday in a report...more…

First, the Social Insurance Agency of Japan manages to “lose” 50 million pension-premium payment records, in the great “Pension Fiasco” at the beginning this year. The Fiasco, which has rendered at least 50 million public pension accounts unidentifiable and shortchanged an unknown number of retirees. And now–SURPRISE–pension agency workers seem to have embezzled 100 million yen. Hmmm, do you think maybe there’s a connection?

Police to raid homes of MSDF officers, members next week
japan today > Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 06:57 EDT
TOKYO –The police are planning to raid the homes of Maritime Self-Defense Force officers and members next week in connection with a suspected leak of confidential data on the Aegis defense system….The Kanagawa prefectural police and an MSDF police unit will jointly conduct searches of the homes and other related locations on suspicion of a violation of the 1954 Law Concerning the Protection of Secrets...more…

Ahh, the Japanese police are so polite. They send out engraved announcements to their police raids a week before so their won’t be any problems, hee, hee. They even put an announcement the the papers.
Actually, this press release from Kyodo News via Japan Today sounds so amazingly stupid I suspect that the phrase police “raid” is a glorious mistranslation and what is actually meant is that the police are conducting a “systematic review” for leaks of confidential data of the Japanese Navy. At least, I hope it’s just bad translation.

Man sends Japanese PM finger
23.Aug.2007. WorldNewsAustralia.com—Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe found himself the target of an unusual protest when a man sent him a severed finger in the post. Fervent nationalist Yoshiro Tanjo, 54, was reportedly angered by Mr Abe’s decision not to pay his respects at a controversial war shrine…more…

The Japanese mob has quite the fetish for cutting fingers off to atone for making mistakes. But as a political statement, lopping off a finger limits a person to only 10 different issues. I suppose this ultra-nationalist only has a couple of ideas in his little pinhead, but still….

For more about traditional Japanese finger hacking, check out “Yakuza Japanese Lesson 1“: Yubi-tsume (指詰め lit. finger-cutting) is an atonement ritual in yakuza culture. Gangsters who fail to properly … The offender slices off a knuckle from the pinky for each offense. It is not unusual for yakuza to lose both pinkies.

Civic Groups Call for Japan’s Apology
The Korea Times, Aug-15-2007 19:40…The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan held their 774th regular Wednesday demonstration in front of the Japanese Embassy…more…

Meanwhile at the same time, the Japanese are showing the love by celebrating at Yasukuni (war criminal) Shrine 62nd anniversary of their victory of World War II. The Yasukuni enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals as well as about Japanese war dead (along with a few Korean and Chinese dead). Japan is not going to get any cooperation from Korean as long as they continue celebrating their “victory.”

Japanese students served toxic whale meat
The Daily Telegraph - August 01, 2007 —WHALE meat served in school lunches in an area of rural Japan is contaminated with alarming levels of mercury, a local assemblyman said today, calling for a halt in plans for the meat to be shipped to schools nationwide. Hisato Ryono, a assemblyman in Taiji, a historic whaling town some 450km west of Tokyo, said two samples of short-finned pilot whale had mercury levels 10 to 16 times more than advised by the Health Ministry...more…

If an assemblyman from Taiji, famous for its annual bloody roundup and slaughter of dolphins, is against serving whale meat, basically there nobody left in Japan who wants to eat it. Note that in the photo at the top, the price on the package of whale is 560 yen—less than five bucks and less than a comparable package of beef—however, most Japanese under the age of 40 have never eaten whale.

Looking out my window right now I see my neighborhood sushi shop that serves whale and I wonder what they plan to serve in the future since tuna for sushi is also under a dark cloud—See The New York Times:Time to Go Easy on the Sushi? Study Finds High Mercury Levels. I guess they will have to find other red-colored substitutes like smoked deer meat and raw horse.

“Yokoso Japan” is the Japanese government’s fun idea for promoting foreign tourism to Japan. Oddly, more than 80% of the ad budget is spent in Japan. And of course, the slogan of the campaign, “Yokoso Japan” is Japanese—foreigners are left to guess that yokoso means welcome.

In a great example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is up to, the Japanese Ministry of Justice’s Immigration Bureau has also started this new program to corral, brand and ear-tag all aliens visiting Japan (even me).

Watch the entire official landing video from the Japanese Immigration Bureau—soon to be nominated for Best Documentary Film at the 2008 Academy Awards, hee, hee.

Watch the fun!

I was poking through slashdot last night when of all things I stumbled across this silly attempt at a joke by Japanese bureaucracy to license and tax everything wireless, even wireless buttplugs (available from our sponsor, J-List).

Japan mulling tax on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, other devices
SmallNetBuilder - Tim Higgins - July 12, 2007—On July 5, a workshop was held by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to consider imposing a “Radio Utilization Fee.” The fee would apply to radio devices that operate in license-free spectrum, which includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and UWB technologies....more.…

Hmmm, let me see. I’ve got three bluetooth cellphones, two wifi routers, two iPod transmitters, a wireless printer, WiFi-enabled camera, a couple of RFID credit cards, an RF highway toll card, three RF car keys, and buddha-knows how many damn remote controls. Now the Japan wants to tax and license them. Sheesh.
I’d love to see how the bureaucrats want to “handle” the licensing of our sponsor, J-List, wireless products like the WX10 - Wireless Remote Control Vibrator.


Actually, I think the bureaucrats cooking up this new licensing law ought to required to take products like the new stealthy remote vibrator, the WX10 test them on each other to “evaluate” the Utilization Fee needed for making them quiver with delight with its 10-mode vibrating pattern options. What with its a cool controller that looks like it could even be attached it to a keychain (”What? Oh, that’s just my car alarm”), I bet the government would come up with a way to make this is one sneaky hummer that will surely inspire a smile or two while squeezing more taxes out the Japanese public.
BUY IT NOW BEFORE THEY TAX IT!
The WX10 - Wireless Remote Control Vibrator is made with a cool-looking matte black rubber with a remote that runs on one CN23A 12volt battery (a little smaller than a AAA) and the vibe shaft takes 2 AAAs. For those of you who have watched Japanese AV, will undoubtedly recognize this specialized tool of the trade, a remote control vibrator, which you can activate it from across the room—Consider the possibilities for fun!

J-List also carries the WR-V Egg Remote Control. This silver egg shaped rotor measures a 2 cm (0.8 inches) in girth and 6 cm ( 2.5 inches) in length and has a loop attachment to allow easy removal. The remote control is 2.75″ long (7 cm) and has an easy on and off switch so you can buzz the egg sight unseen. It comes with small batteries (included) and a bottle of sex lotion. The egg is “for amusement only” — makes a great joke gift for your lover! Order the best straight from Japan from J-List—You’ve got a friend in Japan!

Nation bans karaoke bars, Internet cafes?
Reuters, Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:48AM EDT
SEOUL —North Korea’s security agency has ordered the shutdown of karaoke bars and Internet cafes, saying they are a threat to society…
The North’s Ministry of People’s Security said in a directive…”It is so promulgated under the mandate of the Republic in order to crush enemy scheming and to squarely confront those who threaten the maintenance of the socialist system”…more…

Lil’ Kim KOs Karaoke?!
Gee, although there’s also a ban on Internet Cafes, crazy Kim Jong Il got something half right for once. But why ban Karaoke? Sadly, it just another case of anti-Japaneseism and a way to annoy merchants involved in cross-border business (the main customers that can afford such a luxury North Korea).