Japan's Prime Minister Aso is Undervalued in Japan

Aso falls victim to media attacks — Kwan Weng Kin

For Aso is clearly a victim of Japan's four privately owned television networks, which seem to treat politics no differently from any other form of programming — namely, the subject must be entertaining, or else.

In Japan, many bloggers have blasted their media for biased reporting against Aso, saying they have played down his strong points while keeping mum about the opposition's weaknesses.

In a piece for the Sankei Shimbun last December, American economist Richard Koo held up Aso as one of the few Japanese prime ministers who understand the problems in the country's economy and whose policies he says are being studied by foreign leaders.

It is therefore “sheer madness” for the Japanese media to want to destroy Aso over such trivial failings as mispronouncing a Chinese character, said Koo, who works for the Nomura Research Institute.

I'm one of the bloggers against the mad Japanese media. Those media do much harm to Japan.

Japan's Cash Handouts Policy

Japan Prime Minister Aso Taro decided to cash handouts, 12,000yen (about $120) for each person.

I'm for this policy. The government isn't good at using money. For instance, the government often builds useless architectures. On the other hand, people can decide how to use their money cleverer than the government does, because people know what they want. So tax refund is better than governent's spending. This is the reason why I'm for the cash handouts.

But many people seem to dislike the policy, according to some newspaper surveys. The major opinion is that there must be a better way to use the money than "stupid" cash handouts.

I don't thinks so, as I told above.

How about you?

[Sources]

*1 The Canadian Press: Government cash handout? Stupid, wasteful idea, Japanese say

But polls show most Japanese oppose the idea - though many confess they'll take the money anyway.

*2 The Associated Press: Japan PM calls for new economic stimulus package

Faced with dismal public approval ratings, he has launched a one-time cash handout of 12,000 yen, or about $120 per person, as the centerpiece of a recent stimulus package to revive the economy.

Survey on Pollen Allergy

GlaxoSmithKline announced that they had learned from their survey, which 500 people with pollen allergy had answered, that people thought hay fever could lower business productivity, especially concentration.

According to the announcement (written in Japanese):
* People sleep on an average of 1.2 hours less during pollen allergy seasons.
* What hay fever causes people to suffer the most is sleep.
* 96.2% people agreed that they lose concentration.

This week, many people started to claim that pollens are in the air. We can't avoid the tough pollen season every year. Our enemies are invisible. They stalk us. They can be anywhere. We have nowhere to escape. We defeated them last year. But it has just come back again. Now is the time for survival. It's our destiny. It's inevitable for us in Japan.

Governator Will Purge 20,000 Gov Workers

California Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger will lay off 20,000 government workers. This lay off is completely opposite to the Stimulus Package by the Federal government.

This is the best policy I have ever seen during this crisis. All we need now is a decrease in govermental spending, not an increase. Tax cuts are better than stimulus plans.

I admit that some unpleasant effects could be caused by government downsizing. It's a Californians' choise.

In my opinion, possible failures caused by government downsizing can be fixed by upsizing, while failures by upsizing aren't. It'll take long time to downsize once it's upsized. That's why I think downsizing is better.

What USB Is Short For

Ubiquitous Square Bestowal

There are many USB gadgets that get only power from USB ports, not data.

Even if you aren't a PC user, some USB gadgets will help you.

For example, aroma diffusers:

Follow Up: 'Rape' Video Game

Rapelay will provide "rape experience", as Belfast Telegraph called the game "rape simulation game". This can be the reason why the United Kingdom politician made an action to prohibit sales of such games.

Here's another point of view. Are Japanese people more torelant of such political correctness matters --- especially violence, sexual crime, and human rights --- than western people?

Most Japanese believe that rape is a serious crime, but it's not prohibited making, selling, playing such games so far in Japan.

The difference, if exists, perhaps comes from a religious difference. Not only the majority of Japanese are not Christian, but also most Japanese are not devout whatever a religion they have.

腹芸: Stomach Art? No, Conspiracy Art

Follow up: N.Korea Affairs

I wrote "Kim Jong-il is preparing to strike Japan, but he wouldn't really do that" yesterday. Here's why I think so.

They will never shot the missile. It's a mind game. In Japanese, 心理戦(shin-ri-sen) or 腹芸(hara-gei). "腹芸" literally means "conspiration art." Every politician need 腹芸 skill to achieve their goals.

腹 is a stomach. So a true literally meaning of 腹芸 is "stomach art." Why 腹(stomach)? Here's the reason. Japanese have believed that our mind exists inside our stomach, not inside our brain.

More examples of 腹(stomach/brain):

"腹黒い" literally means "black stomach" but actually means "of conspiracy." For example, "彼は腹黒い" means "He is a man of conspiracy."

"腹を割って話す" literally means "cut one's stomach and talk" but actually means "talk frankly."

Samurais executed 切腹(ハラキリ) himself to express their loyalty to their masters, without any conspiracy.