6810 wrote:dimwit wrote:That being said, Japan does have an appalling lack of transparancy and especially accountability. And yes, racism is a problem here. Most of us ignore it and get on with our lives. Some people see it very directly affecting their lives. So there is a role for someone to honestly raise the issue, as much for Japanese people as for foreigners.
As compared to where? I honestly believe this to be a case of individuals who have yet to acquire local linguistic agency and therefore assume a lack of transparency, ulterior motives etc.
I was going to write about this before you beat me to it, particularly on the subject of transparency. Every time I've heard the "no transparency" claim, it's come from people who don't understand news they read or watch in Japanese. And they're generally just repeating a claim they heard elsewhere in English language media or online forums. This was especially true in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake.
I'm a bit more sympathetic to claims of lack of accountability. I'm using the 2011 earthquake as an example. Whether prosecutors are not ambitious, or whether the laws were just not strict enough to begin with, I am somewhat amazed at the lack of repercussions for TEPCO thus far. Much more so, I am amazed at the lack of outrage toward the government for not getting evacuees out of horrible temporary housing. But then again, there are similarly outrageous situations in my home country. While you could compare BP's 2010 oil spill (BP pled guilty to criminal charges 2.5 years later), on the flip side you can look to the Hurricane Katerina aftermath and lack of prosecution of financial firms in 2008 as parallels for "lack of accountability". I'd like all these countries to do better, personally.
