The Half-Baked Waffle Government

[Captain Japan]

EDITORIAL: Koizumi reforms lifeless
Asahi

Radical steps are the only way to justify tax hikes.

Still more momentum has been lost in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's much-touted administrative reform program. Now his words simply sound empty.

There is no political will in the new ``Outline of Administrative Reform'' approved by the Cabinet at the end of last year. A major reason is that the administrative agencies do not appear ready to sacrifice themselves. And while Koizumi vociferously pleads for reform of the postal system, he remains almost silent on administrative reform.

Past outlines on administrative reform were accompanied by plans for the privatization of governmental corporations or their transformation into independent administrative agencies. Juxtaposed with those, the present outline makes it plain the government is unenthusiastic about reform.

Typical is a plan to cut the ranks of civil servants in the central government. Currently, there are 330,000. The new outline calls for a more than 10 percent cut in five years. But the percentage mentioned here is not a net reduction. More officers are expected to swell the ranks of customs and immigration authorities as well as the police force, but those increases are not taken into account.

The government's draft budget for the new fiscal year points toward tax increases. If taxpayers are to shoulder a greater financial burden, the government will face calls for very drastic administrative reform measures.

If the government's plan amounts to nothing more than half-baked waffle drafted by bureaucrats, who will be willing to accept tax increases?

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

[FG Lurker]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

Uhh, yah.

Taxes are a big deal for me. I pay mine, and it is not a small amount of money.

Koizumi started out right I think... Charged in with a "my way or the highway" attitude. Seems someone castrated those big brass balls he had.

Now he's just another powerless pansy sucking up my tax money. I don't see any better options to replace him with though, and that makes it even worse.

[Captain Japan]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

Uhh, yah.

Taxes are a big deal for me. I pay mine, and it is not a small amount of money.

Koizumi started out right I think... Charged in with a "my way or the highway" attitude. Seems someone castrated those big brass balls he had.

Koizumi was a hoax from the beginning. He was put in place to give Japan a better look than the hopelessly embarrassing Mori. And he did that, his haircut and talk of "change" were the keys to crafting a desirable image.

The LDP never had any sort of intention of letting him make any substantial reforms of the government - and he never will be able to do anything. He was just supposed to make the LDP look better. And seriously, in Japan what is more important than how something looks?

[FG Lurker]

Koizumi was a hoax from the beginning. He was put in place to give Japan a better look than the hopelessly embarrassing Mori. And he did that, his haircut and talk of "change" were the keys to crafting a desirable image.

I don't agree.

The LDP had no intention of letting Kozumi gain power, and they were none too happy when he did. Only his popular support stopped them from booting him out and putting another Mori in his place.

[DJEB]

I've got zero problem with paying a lot of tax... depending on how it is spent. I've got no problem with high tax rate if, for example, I can get 100% health care coverage from the national system instead of 70%. And I realise that an industrialised nation needs a Keynesian stimulus. That said even construction is ok as a stimulus... as long as it's not ripping up and rebuilding the same goddam road year in and year out.

My fear with Koizumi was that he was going to jump on the neo-liberal band wagon and gut services in the name of flawed neo-classical economic theory. If I have anything to be thankful for, it is that he did not do that.

[cstaylor]

Koizumi was a hoax from the beginning. He was put in place to give Japan a better look than the hopelessly embarrassing Mori. And he did that, his haircut and talk of "change" were the keys to crafting a desirable image.

The thing is, Koizumi is a member of Mori-ha, so it's not like Mori is out of power... he's just free to play golf when a crisis arises.

[Charles]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

But his eyebrows are unimpressive.

[DJEB]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

But his eyebrows are unimpressive.

Wrong guy.

[FG Lurker]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

But his eyebrows are unimpressive.

Are those yours Charles? Nice set!

[Charles]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

But his eyebrows are unimpressive.

Wrong guy.

Do you not recognize Murayama-souri?

[FG Lurker]

Do you not recognize Murayama-souri?

He was PM when the Hanshin quake hit.

It was humour Charles, humour.

[Edit: Thought Charles was responding to me. Actually I think he has me on his ignore list now anyway.]

[DJEB]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

But his eyebrows are unimpressive.

Wrong guy.

Do you not recognize Murayama-souri?

Read Cap'n Japan's quote, read your comment and read the subject of my post.

[Charles]

Read Cap'n Japan's quote, read your comment and read the subject of my post.

But his [Koizumi's] eyebrows are unimpressive.
Then I posted a picture of Murayama's impressive eyebrows.
So yeah, I don't even look at subjects of msgs, it's just so much visual litter.

Some people can suck the fun out of everything. Sheesh. I bet you're the life of the party.

[FG Lurker]

Some people can suck the fun out of everything.

[DJEB]

Some people can suck the fun out of everything.

Some people can suck the fun out of everything.

[dimwit]

Koizumi was a hoax from the beginning. He was put in place to give Japan a better look than the hopelessly embarrassing Mori. And he did that, his haircut and talk of "change" were the keys to crafting a desirable image.

The LDP never had any sort of intention of letting him make any substantial reforms of the government - and he never will be able to do anything. He was just supposed to make the LDP look better. And seriously, in Japan what is more important than how something looks?

Exactly. I would argue that HE never had any intention of making reforms either. I remember when he was first elected LDP leader and I asked my students what reforms Koizumi stood for and no one could come up with anything other than the Post Office (not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think about reform).

He got elected by using the reform label to defeat the old guard led by Hashimoto who most young LDP members recognized could not be sold to the Japanese public after his disastrous term as PM.

[Taro Toporific]

...I asked my students what reforms Koizumi stood for and no one could come up with anything other than the Post Office (not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think about reform)...

"REFORM"? Sheeeee-it.
Think 'bout it: the Cops are joke, Finance Ministry is scam, Immigration is evil, Education is a fraud...damn, although pricy, Japan Post is the only institution in Japan "that works."

[Captain Japan]

I think this editorial forgets that Koizumi has a really nice haircut.

PM's barber keeps 'Beethoven' top of the locks
Japan Times

Tadashi Muragi is a 46-year-old Tokyo hairdresser with a 22-year career of scissor wielding already behind him. Clad in a clean white barber suit at his classically styled, five-seat shop, Muragi may look little different from others of his professional ilk -- though the fact that he is tonsorially responsible for the "lion-haired" head of this country, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, shows just how deceiving looks can be.

"The prime minister comes here without fail every other week to keep his hairstyle unchanged. He is smart," says Muragi, director of Muragi Barber Shop Co. "He has been coming for about 30 years, since before he became a politician." Back then, Koizumi was a lawmaker's secretary.

Barber Shop Muragi is located on the third basement floor of the Capitol Tokyu Hotel in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward -- almost next to the PM's office building and five minutes from the Diet. A key spot in behind-the-scenes maneuverings, the hotel is often where top politicos go to hammer out their policies while reporters hang around in the lobby waiting to be told what they want them to hear....the rest...