"Japan's Abe Is the World's Best Leader"

[Russell]

Well, well ... preparing to buddy it up with the leader of one of the world's most corrupt nations (again).

Abe arranging for Mugabe, 92, to visit Japan for late-March summit ahead of Kenya TICAD

Inviting him to Japan could raise doubts about Abe’s policy of promoting universal values such as freedom and democracy.

No shit.

Maybe he wants to learn monetary policy from Mugabe.

After all, Mugabe succeeded to create "some" inflation for his currency, while Abe is stuck with deflation...

[Wage Slave]

Well, well ... preparing to buddy it up with the leader of one of the world's most corrupt nations (again).

Abe arranging for Mugabe, 92, to visit Japan for late-March summit ahead of Kenya TICAD

Inviting him to Japan could raise doubts about Abe’s policy of promoting universal values such as freedom and democracy.

No shit.

Maybe he wants to learn monetary policy from Mugabe.

After all, Mugabe succeeded to create "some" inflation for his currency, while Abe is stuck with deflation...

True dat.

[dimwit]

Well, should Kuroda get hit by a meteor or something as hopeful, I think we have the man to continue on his policies. After all, inflation is the only standard by which an economy should be judged, not growth, or standard of living, or GDP.

[kurogane]

Maybe he wants to learn monetary policy from Mugabe.

After all, Mugabe succeeded to create "some" inflation for his currency, while Abe is stuck with deflation...

You might be onto something there, but it could also be Abe wants to get some advice on how to negotiate and persuade the domestic opposition to agree or at least demur to his economic and social policies. Mugabe has also enjoyed considerable success in co-opting his political opponents to his side, as you probably know.

More importantly, I admire Abe for having the courage to invite such an important international figure to Japan, and I am sure he would be as supportive of other nations inviting Kim Young'un for a state visit.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Maybe he wants to learn monetary policy from Mugabe.

After all, Mugabe succeeded to create "some" inflation for his currency, while Abe is stuck with deflation...

You win.

[Yokohammer]

With a pivotal election happening today (July 10) I thought it would be apropos to post this Daily Beast article about the Nippon Kaigi, by our old friend Jake Adelstein (don't let the sensationalist title put you off ... there is a lot of truth here).

The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan

TOKYO — In the Land of the Rising Sun, a conservative Shinto cult dating back to the 1970s, which includes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and many of his cabinet among its adherents, finally has been dragged out of the shadows.

The group is called Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) and is ostensibly run by Tadae Takubo, a former journalist turned political scientist. It only has 38,000 members, but like many an exclusive club, or sect, it wields tremendous political influence.

Broadly speaking, Shinto is a polytheistic and animist religion native to Japan. The state-sponsored Shintoism promulgated here before and during World War II also elevated the Emperor to the status of a God and insisted that the Japanese were a divine race –– the Yamato; with all other races considered inferior.

...

[Taro Toporific]

With a pivotal election happening today (July 10)...
The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan
...

In typical fashion in the do-inaka/boonies of Shikoku, Mrs. Taro came to me this morning to "approve" her intended vote before going to the poling place.
"Anti-Abe" was my only suggestion (which is about the same as saying anybody-but-Trump).


According to the exit polls, LDP failed to get a supermajority.
The Komeito is up 5, the DP down 16 and the JCP up 3.

[Yokohammer]

With a pivotal election happening today (July 10)...
The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan
...

In typical fashion in the do-inaka/boonies of Shikoku, Mrs. Taro came to me this morning to "approve" her intended vote before going to the poling place.
"Anti-Abe" was my only suggestion (which is about the same as saying anybody-but-Trump).


According to exit polls, LDP failed to get a supermajority. The Komeito is up 5, the DP down 16 and the JCP up 3.

Mrs. Hammer voted anti-Abe too. As did just about everyone else I know personally. Despite the local anti-Abe sentiment, the LDP is putting in a very strong showing. I think it's a bit early to say they didn't get their supermajority. Some are saying that they have succeeded. Still worried, and still glued to the tube until things get a little clearer.

Minshin is currently ahead of Jimin by about 3 points up here in Miyagi.

~ Tapatalking ~

[Takechanpoo]

a mere drop in the bucket


ironically biggest "supporters" for abe and his comrades are china and korea. the more the two do something threatening or disgusting to japan, the more abes reputation soars.

btw i voted to LDP by elimination.

[legion]

I just wish they'd stop shouting "Banzai", it is just so dated.

I think someone in Abe's party is going to stab him in the back soon-ish. It'll start with a few scandals picking off the members around him.

[Coligny]

With a pivotal election happening today (July 10)...
The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan
...

In typical fashion in the do-inaka/boonies of Shikoku, Mrs. Taro came to me this morning to "approve" her intended vote before going to the poling place.
"Anti-Abe" was my only suggestion (which is about the same as saying anybody-but-Trump).


According to the exit polls, LDP failed to get a supermajority.
The Komeito is up 5, the DP down 16 and the JCP up 3.

Got the same here... Told her to do like her mom...
The girls came back humming the internationale...

(No local banker hung with the innards of a disembowelled priest as far as i know...)

[Yokohammer]

Well that's distressing. Things won't fall apart overnight, but Abe and his cronies have cleared the way to turning Japan into a despot's dreamland. It might be time to think about formulating a viable exit plan (that hopefully will be made unnecessary by some sort of political backlash).

Voter turnout estimated at 53.66%

Hardly any change from 2013, so where were all those new 18 and 19 year old voters? They had TV crews on the street interviewing people about whether they had voted and why yesterday, and the response from younger people (not talking about the teens here, people in their 20s and 30s) ranged from the usual "there isn't anyone I want to vote for" excuse to "pancakes are more important" from a group of young women indulging in said delicacy at a family restaurant.



Pancakes ...

... just what the Abe camp was hoping for ...

[matsuki]

You mean to say life isn't all "Love, Peace and Ice cream" without voting?

[Grumpy Gramps]

Ah, old Uncle Abe is surely busy right now kitting out his death squadrons so he can send them soon to sweep through the country to make sure everyone loves him.

[kurogane]

"pancakes are more important"

Pancakes ...
... just what the Abe camp was hoping for ...

Japan’s Young Voters Back Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition expands its control of parliament in an upper-house vote Sunday

http://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-youn ... 1468211162

So............to recap:

Well that's distressing.

I find that more disappointing than just pancakes (even Booberry pancakes), and I can't even blame them for it. At least they voted (to wit, voters can be persuaded, non-voters can't), and that cohort really has been kicked to the curb since the end of the Koizumi Boom years, almost as much as the Trumpxit schleppies in the UK and the states: they could save the world and people our age would still claim they're lazy, feckless, whiney assed video game playing emotionally crippled drones, even though we have all the shit and won't share. What is freaking me out the most is this run to the Right: I suppose it's the comfort blanket response, not to mention the criminal ineptitude of the opposition. OTOH, the commies are inching their way up the ladder, and while we still don't know just how many of them voted, at least they voted and could back up why they did, even if they're wrong and stupid and icky and bad. Which they are.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I was going to say I was surprised by the result, but considering the opposition except for the JCP is essentially ex-LDP, I can see why the vote went the way it did.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Excuse my ignorance, but I assume that in Japan you cannot put in an empty ballot, if you find no-one to vote for?

[wagyl]

Excuse my ignorance, but I assume that in Japan you cannot put in an empty ballot, if you find no-one to vote for?

You certainly can. But it is even easier to not get out of your armchair (or pancake parlour) to go to the polling booth.

[Grumpy Gramps]

It makes a difference in turnout, though, so the armchair option would be slightly less desirable.

[Russell]

Abe honored with Global Citizen Award

The Atlantic Council, a major U.S. think tank, honored Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the 2016 Global Citizen Award on Monday for his internationally outstanding achievements.

The other winners this year are Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and U.S. musician Wynton Marsalis.

The three recipients’ “extraordinary leadership has been invaluable in addressing global challenges and fostering unity,” the council said.

“I receive this award on behalf of Japanese citizens,” Abe said at the award ceremony in New York.

The past honorees include Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s prodemocracy leader and currently the country’s state adviser and foreign minister, Sadako Ogata, former president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

More

[wuchan]

Abe honored with Global Citizen Award

The Atlantic Council, a major U.S. think tank, honored Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the 2016 Global Citizen Award on Monday for his internationally outstanding achievements.

The other winners this year are Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and U.S. musician Wynton Marsalis.

The three recipients’ “extraordinary leadership has been invaluable in addressing global challenges and fostering unity,” the council said.

“I receive this award on behalf of Japanese citizens,” Abe said at the award ceremony in New York.

The past honorees include Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s prodemocracy leader and currently the country’s state adviser and foreign minister, Sadako Ogata, former president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

More

The Atlantic Council believes in Natzi fascism. Well, their choices for "global citizen" awards sure do make them look like Natzis.

[kurogane]

I have been receiving signals suggesting that The Replicant Overlords (TRO) have placed great stock in their new poster boy. The thing that worries me is whether they know something we don't, or we know something they don't. I seem to remember Russell's tinfoil gets that frequency better than mine does, so maybe he can do some research and get back to us. I am surprised how little heat he gets for his constitutional positions, but it might indicate how trivial they are as concerns, or are simply considered domestic issues exempt from outside commentary.

Let's keep in mind that he still enjoys a decent personal approval rating and is an important ally in the efforts to build the ring of containment.

[Yokohammer]

It might also be a case of "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" being put into practice. Let him join the club. Make him feel successful and powerful without having to do something pissy to gain attention.

Stil ... ya gotta wonder ...

[kurogane]

Right, a good point that. I do wonder, but I am also amazed at what weird ass warped lenses Our Elites use to look at Japan. The framing, filters and blurring the Japanese gatekeepers use is quite a smoke screen, and our guys seem quite happy with that. Plus, whatever concerns the constitutional stuff might give rise to, it is a purely domestic issue, and like it or not they know that.

[wagyl]

Whether a country with a pretty substantial defence budget realigns from a "defence only" stance, to an "offence is OK if we align ourselves with someone else" stance, is not necessarily a purely domestic issue.

I think the foreign policy view of Japan is steeped in the same liquor as foreign news reporting: Japan is exotic™ and other™ and the normal rules do not apply, and it ends up being a grossly simplified view. Normally, the spin would be detected and evaluated, but since it is quirky Japan the strange stories are taken at face value. Remember the bubble when Japan had the answer and was meant to be the model for the rest of the world? That bandwagonism and readiness to swallow bullshit wholesale, is still around today.

[kurogane]

Well, it is if it involves constitutional amendments and/or legislation regarding same, at least from allies. If you mean that those who don't like such developments and are the rather obvious object of them might voice objections and apply pressure, then yes, but it remains a domestic political decision. Which it should be, of course. I would much prefer to see Article 9 remain as is, but I don't pretend to think they should care what I think.
And yes to the rest of that too. It's like an anime convention at elite levels.

[Yokohammer]

Abe goes birther on Renho, deftly deflecting attention from shit that really matters.

Abe urges Renho to prove her status under the law with release of family registry

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday urged opposition leader Renho to disclose a copy of her family registry to prove the legality of her status under a nationality law, adding fresh fuel to the flames of her dual passport controversy.

My favorite part is:

This is an extremely serious problem that could undermine voters’ trust in politics.

You mean compared to using lies and deceit to change the nation's constitution? Or compared to legalizing arms exports and thereby establishing a base of lethal arms research, development, and manufacture in a country that is supposedly dedicated to peace? Or compared to gambling on the stock market with public pension money and losing billions, and then taking more money from the public to make up for the loss?

I dunno ... I kinda think there might be other ways to undermine voters' trust in politics.

[Takechanpoo]

its because renho has rejected to publicize the very day that she insisted naturalized as japanese, despite of the fact she is a public character aiming to be a future prime minister of japan. it must not be tolerated. this chinese woman really stinks as shit.

[legion]

its because renho has rejected to publicize the very day that she insisted naturalized as japanese, despite of the fact she is a public character aiming to be a future prime minister of japan. it must not be tolerated. this chinese woman really stinks as shit.

so what ? your regular politicians are a different race.

Run for office yourself, see how far you get.

If you do not belong to the seijika minzoku you will get nowhere, unless you are a former pro wrestler or have nice tits.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Isn't the emperor technically a gaijin, even possibly a Korean? And he can still be emperor of Japan, which is a lot better than just shitty politician scum. Non-issue imo.