Some of the people who have been kind enough to read this blog have referred to me as a libertarian. Of course, I’d prefer to think of myself as a liberal of the classical mold, but I have to admit in many ways that aligns me with modern libertarians.

Anyway, let me pose a question. According to the views I hold, which party would I be best off to support in Japan? (I’m not a citizen, so speaking in terms of moral support.) Ironically enough, if my decision were to be based on campaign posters, it would have to be the Japanese Communist Party.

For literally years now, I’ve been seeing campaign posters arguing for a strict interpretation of article 9 of the Japanese constitution, the antiwar clause. Wow, that’s just what I believe. The constitution should be taken seriously and interpreted strictly. Good on you, JCP.

Now, recently, I’ve noticed a new poster from the JCP. This poster says something like stop the sales tax increase. It’s an anti-tax message. Wow, I can get into that. Fight the tax raise, the government already gets too much money.

So there you have it. Based on campaign posters, the JCP is the party of strict constitutionalism and antitax to boot. Now, that’s the party for me. Okay, if I actually checked their platform, I’d probably have to revise this a bit, but anyway …

I can’t help but wish JCP luck next election cycle with their anti-tax, strict constitutional platform.

In a recent op-ed the editors’ of the WSJ state:

Under the leadership of recent Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe, Japan began to accept more responsibility for its own national defense and to play a larger role in international security affairs. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Fukuda fully shares his predecessors’ vision of a revitalized, strong Japan, but last week’s vote suggests he understands what’s at stake.

Japan is “accepting more responsibility for its own national defense” by venturing off to refuel ships and patrol the waters off Afghanistan?

No, I don’t think so. Rather it’s finally seeing the real price of its security alliance with America. So much for the free security lunch.

Let’s make a guess, the more and more America pushes this time, and the more and more the Japanese government acquiesces, the more they will be punished at the polls come election time. We’ll see.

Update: I’ve blogged a few more details on this at my other (not ready for prime time) political blog. Here’s the link.

There’s about a million reasons why Japan should not be fingerprinting foreigners, however just to concentrate on one.

As early as 2005 a study on the current fingerprinting system in America was published. It showed that if only two index fingers were fingerprinted, then the likelihood of thwarting the system was fairly substantial. For people with weak fingerprints, recognition would be severely degraded. Once a determined individual realized this, he could work on wearing down his own fingerprints, so that the system would not accurately record them.

Here is a link to the study.

Here is a link to the short hand version of the study.

This study was published in 2005. As of now, America will be moving to a 10 finger fingerprint system. Although no one is saying so, this must be a result of that study.

So here we are in 2007, two years after we’ve been informed that the two finger index system doesn’t work, and Japan is now instituting that system. That is from conception to implementation, Japan put into place a system well known to be deficient in thwarting determined individuals. People should be shocked and outraged. Instead … silence.

The system in America cost $10 billion dollars, I wonder how much money is being wasted on Japan’s system.

As far as the two finger index system, the secretary of Homeland Security (in the US) notes that it has been used to stop 2000 criminals. Were any of these people terrorists? No, the “criminals” were stopped in relation to drug trade and “illegal” labor. $10,000,000,000 divided by 2000 people apprehended (related to drugs and “illegal” workers). That means $5,000,000 per apprehended person. Is he serious?

Rest assured that the new system ten finger system will be easily thwarted by any truly determined person.

Last year in June, I wrote an editorial about the new law in Japan requiring foreigners to be fingerprinted when they enter Japan. Recently, through email a reporter contacted me in reference to the editorial. I was asked some questions about the new law (which goes into effect this month). Here are the questions I was asked, along with my answers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Given the situation in Afghanistan, I don’t see the Japanese as being ready for this.

I don’t even think the Americans are.

You have to watch this video.

There’s a good article on the Moriya scandal, and its impact on the current political situation in the Yomiuri this morning. It’s well worth reading.

I can’t help but think that the scandal is not really significant as it is probably only a minor representative element of an entire system of systematic collusion. There is something frustrating in watching so much venting over the scandal without an accompanying analysis of a system that would have allowed for the scandal to have taken place so naturally. In essence, political maneuverings for public gains without a debate over anything substantial. The electorate seem all to willing here to be taken for a ride.

I’ve been a little busy so no posts. Here’s a couple of interesting videos.

This is so outrageous.

To stop terrorism, the government is going to start fingerprinting and taking snap shots of every foreigner who comes in Japan but they aren’t going to prevent part timers from handling viruses and bacteria as lethal and dangerous as anthrax.

If there is anybody out there still left who thinks the fingerprinting program is a good idea, they simply don’t understand how the government operates. The government looks for big splashy solutions that have mass appeal but don’t really do anything that requires real insight or costs political capital.

According to the Asahi:

A state laboratory handled hundreds of hazardous pathogens beyond its capabilities, ordered workers to keep the dangers secret, and did not tell part-timers about the potentially lethal risks, The Asahi Shimbun has learned. … As of 2001, IPOD kept about 300 types of pathogens that could damage human health, including some considered as potentially lethal as the anthrax bacteria, according to internal documents obtained by the newspaper and other sources. Part-time workers at the facility were assigned to test and cultivate the pathogens in facilities not well equipped for infection prevention.

Running a religious cult and looking to destroy the world through disease? Here’s a nice part time job for you.

What more can I say?

Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare is currently debating through committee the following situation:

Generic drugs can be made by more than one company. Imagine the case where a doctor prescribes a generic drug to a patient. Call it drug X. The prescription specifies generic drug X made by company A. Now say the drug store doesn’t carry generic drug X made by company A, but it does have the exact equivalent generic drug X made by company B. Without asking for the doctor’s permission, should the trained pharmacists be allowed to switch company A’s product for company B’s, given that ingredients are essential equivalent and it’s a generic drug anyway?

If you can’t answer don’t worry, there are bureaucrats specifically trained to be able to handle questions like this. That’s what they are there for, so rest assured they’ll find a satisfactory answer.

Link to news article about this.

Supposedly unreasonable demands from parents are a big problem for schools these days.

An article in the Asahi today says that in the Osaka school district there were 251 incidents of this. Here are some examples that are presented.

• The sports day festival was canceled because of rain, so please refund to us the money it cost our child’s grandparents to travel here with the intention of seeing it.
• On the way to school [with the other children] please adjust to our child’s personal rhythm.
• As our child will no longer be able to use his textbooks, please refund them.
• Please beware. Whether our child will follow the school rules or not is up to him [and not the school].

I’ve commented on this type of thing before.

I’m frustrated by the attitude of the teachers. They seem to want to create this crisis whereby they are being pushed too hard by the parents. Is the problem really that serious?

I’m equally frustrated by the incredible sense of entitlement some of these parents feel towards the public education system. Because they don’t actually pay for the schools (directly), they’ve little sense of proportion when making these requests.