Liberal Japan

kininari news:

• Social security looms large as priority issue for voters: poll, Kyodo News via Yahoo! Asia:
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  “An overwhelming majority of Japanese voters polled picked social security issues as a key factor in deciding on the candidates and political parties they will vote for in July’s House of Councillors election … With two replies allowed, social security — pension, healthcare, nursing care and welfare — was picked by 74.9 percent of the respondents … The survey also found that 46.9 percent of the respondents expressed hope the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, will lose its majority in the upper chamber, compared with 43.6 percent who said they want the ruling parties to maintain their majority.”
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  The pension fiasco simply can’t be swept under the carpet because people will be lining up at consultation booths at the 309 regional social security offices till well past the upper house election in July.
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  There’s simply nothing the LDP can do to get rid of the issue. And if that’s not bad enough, over 100 pension consultation offices experienced computer problems last sunday … can you say daishippai?
• Ibaragi NPA on How to deal with NJ: Riot Police, debito.org blog; Use full riot gear, a ratio of about 6 to 1, then take down the puny foreigner. Click on the above link because you have to see this!
• Japan’s values void, Observing Japan; Some very thoughtful writing on Japan and identity. Definitely check this out. “Different groups might emphasize different aspects of the canon — early Republicans emphasizing the Declaration of Independence to contrast with Southern Democrats, who emphasized the constitution — but all seek to claim the project’s blessing for their own program. Japan, however, lacks a similar set of symbols upon which all can agree. What does Japan have? The imperial system? The constitution? Cultural traditions?”
• Lone Adventure in Tokyo Part III: Pain and Getting Detained, otakuhime; Interesting travelogue. A tourist in Tokyo is detained by the police. What a nasty way to treat tourists. So it’s now a crime to get lost in Japan! As the poster notes, keeping your passport in the hotel safe is often a wise procedure. Not in Japan, though.
• Report: Japan to back cluster bomb ban, but suggest delay, AP via IHT; “Japan will back an international ban on cluster bombs but will suggest delaying restrictions to allow countries to develop alternative weapons …” Right. Let’s not give up on cluster bombs till we’ve got something even more deadly …
• Lightning causes fire, blackouts, train disruptions, and that’s not all … Lightning injures 6 students on hiking trip, after which the teacher wisely decided to take the campers home. From Japan Today.

kiniiri news:

• Is the kimono becoming extinct?, Ampotan; Great article here on culturism in the foreign press.
• Depends on your point of view, Japundit; Funny article that notes that while Shinzo Abe was patting himself on the back for a successful summit, some in the German press couldn’t tell Abe from Adam Norihiko Akagi.
• Green tea works its magic, Asheville Citizens-Times; The author of this article says green tea is very healthy. Doesn’t she realize that with the massive government subsidies green tea producer get in Japan they can afford to produce studies making green tea appear to be healthy?
• PayPerPost Direct on LongCountdown, Long Countdown; Nick Ramsey, who keeps a nice blog on Japan notes that he’s going to start using PayPerPost direct, a new service for generating cash in Japan. Hm. Sounds worth looking into.
• The Slackers Rise Up, Newsweek via MSNBC; This article is fascinating solely because it says absolutely nothing yet constitutes news in a major main stream magazine.