Liberal Japan

Kininaru news is an irregular feature of this blog in which I occasionally comment on selected headlines.

Osaka woman wanted in 20 mil. yen point card fraud
Comment: Good grief. A women talked fifty of her acquaintances into giving her their personal information so she could apply for a FamilyMart Co.’s reward cards for herself in their name. No one realized that through the card you could get cash advances and credit. The women scammed ¥20 million yen from her acquaintances before the police caught up with her.

Fujimori launches Japan campaign from Chile exile
Comment: It’s shameful for Japan just having this guy on the ticket. I’m glad to here he probably won’t win.

Dead doctors’ names on govt database
Comment: Going to the doctor? Then the government has set up a special database where you can check two things. You can check to make sure your doctor has a license, and you can make sure he has had no administrative punishments leveled against him. Here is the link to the data base.

As always though, there is a problem. When doctors die, they are not removed from the list unless requested by the family. The family is required to request this, but most of them don’t even know about the damn data base.

So here’s what you can do. If you’d like to open a small doctor’s clinic in your neighborhood, just use the name of one of the recently deceased doctors … I mean — that’s not what you should do, because sooner or later they’ll fix this and then … I’m just saying that … never mind.

Cops ponder when to deploy elite unit / Secrecy surrounding Special Assault Team has proved to be double-edged sword
Comment: Originally Japan’s Special Assault Team (SAT) was kept so secret that the regular police force now doesn’t even understand how to use them. Well, if that’s the case then who approved the funding for this special force? I mean, didn’t any one tell the taxpayers about the special forces so they could know how their money was being spent … does anyone care?

Nurseries required to report signs of abuse
Comment: Here’s a scenario. You work at a nursery school, and you think one of the children is facing physical abuse at home. What do you do? Unless you’re really sure, that’s a hard thing to decide. But guess what, in Japan you will now be legally required to snitch to the relevant government officials. This really rubs me the wrong way. I do think if it’s clear there is a genuine case of child abuse, the ethically correct thing would be to inform a specialist and get help. However, for it to be illegal if you do nothing creates too many problems. What if you weren’t sure? What if you were wrong? The government should never mandate citizens to snitch on one another whatever the case may be. In this case, they are actually training nursery school workers to look for child abusers. Well, so long as you remove the government from the equation then that would be great. However, with the government involved, you can expect problems.

‘5% statutory interest rate to be cut’
Comment: This is a really important rate. It’s often used in cases where one person sues another. In the case where the claim involves money over time, this is the rate used. And depending on if this rate is high or low, that will make a big difference in the amount disputed in any law suit. Because interest rates are known to fluctuate, it would make sense I think to have a floating rate. However, Japan has not changed it’s rate since 1896. No, not 1986, 1896. According to the article, since 2002, Germany changes its rate twice a year. And since 1975, France has had a floating rate. I tried very briefly to see what American policy was, but not finding it immediately on Google gave up.

10% of workers ‘thought of suicide’
Comment: Studies like this are a waste of tax dollars. Free us from oppressive and intrusive government and we’ll all be happier.

Kidney recipient paid 10 mil. yen for transplant
Comment: Japanese who need kidneys are now going to the Philippines to buy them from live donors.

Iran’s Asks Japan to Pay for Oil in Yen, Putting a Dent into Carry Trades
Comment: This is a interesting story. Previously they’d accepted dollars. The dollar slightly weakened on this news. However, is there any real effect from doing this? Is this just political showmanship?