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chokonen888 wrote:The lack of reporting the incident is very North Korea/China-like....maybe they literally buried him as well.
omae mona wrote:Let me say in terms of the actual political issue, I'm on the same side as the guy who immolated himself.
That being said, I think Japan is structured more or less correctly as a democracy (yes, it has problems including the voters). So I don't think it's right for one guy to get a bigger voice than everybody else just because he does something extreme. If he's opposed to the government policies, he should campaign to get Abe and his party voted out of office. You have to work hard and gather popular support to do that, not spend 1000 yen on gasoline and light yourself on fire. He's not special just because he wants to be.
This is not Tibet, where lighting yourself on fire is possibly the only way to actually have an effect on policy.
So I don't have a problem with the media not paying special attention to the guy. He got plenty of attention, and for the right reasons, which is that he screwed up the JR train schedule.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:omae mona wrote:Let me say in terms of the actual political issue, I'm on the same side as the guy who immolated himself.
That being said, I think Japan is structured more or less correctly as a democracy (yes, it has problems including the voters). So I don't think it's right for one guy to get a bigger voice than everybody else just because he does something extreme. If he's opposed to the government policies, he should campaign to get Abe and his party voted out of office. You have to work hard and gather popular support to do that, not spend 1000 yen on gasoline and light yourself on fire. He's not special just because he wants to be.
This is not Tibet, where lighting yourself on fire is possibly the only way to actually have an effect on policy.
So I don't have a problem with the media not paying special attention to the guy. He got plenty of attention, and for the right reasons, which is that he screwed up the JR train schedule.
Another explanation for the lack of coverage that I heard from a colleague who is also very much into politics is that the media here have agreed not to sensationalize or romanticize suicide due to Japan's high suicide rate. Like the claims about purposefully burying the story I'm not sure it's true but it is plausible.
omae mona wrote:I think Japan is structured more or less correctly as a democracy
chokonen888 wrote:omae mona wrote:I think Japan is structured more or less correctly as a democracy
I got chewed out by a lefty lemur when I dared even call Japan a democracy. Her take was:
a Japanese cannot go from nothing to politician in Japan...the politicians are in their own bubble and will force out any "gaijin" who dare to try to enter their ranks so they keep control. They are also so out of touch with the average Japanese and their lifestyle, they cannot possible understand the problems the average person faces or how to improve them.
I'm not even going to pretend I understand Japanese politics but her description (while not exactly unique to Japan) seems plausible.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:Other than the gaijin part that sounds like the US.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:chokonen888 wrote:omae mona wrote:I think Japan is structured more or less correctly as a democracy
I got chewed out by a lefty lemur when I dared even call Japan a democracy. Her take was:
a Japanese cannot go from nothing to politician in Japan...the politicians are in their own bubble and will force out any "gaijin" who dare to try to enter their ranks so they keep control. They are also so out of touch with the average Japanese and their lifestyle, they cannot possible understand the problems the average person faces or how to improve them.
I'm not even going to pretend I understand Japanese politics but her description (while not exactly unique to Japan) seems plausible.
Other than the gaijin part that sounds like any other politician in any other country.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:Another explanation for the lack of coverage that I heard from a colleague who is also very much into politics is that the media here have agreed not to sensationalize or romanticize suicide due to Japan's high suicide rate. Like the claims about purposefully burying the story I'm not sure it's true but it is plausible.
Man burns himself to death in Hibiya Park, leaves note protesting collective self-defense
The Japan Times | Nov. 12, 2014
An apparent activist opposed to the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa set himself on fire Tuesday in Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, police said, adding the man was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Investigators said they consider the case to be a suicide, noting the man left a protest note of some kind and a video camera, through which he was seen to have recorded the scene of his self-immolation.
NHK meanwhile said the note left by the unidentified man was addressed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the heads of both chambers of the Diet.
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