any thoughts / opinions / know anything about him?

i don't know much about Japanese politics...

The politics blogs I read aren't very optimistic about his chances; for instance this post reckons he too will not last very long, because of a combination of "impossible job" and a scheduled leadership contest in a year's time.

Basically this many short-term prime ministers in a row is an indication of a systemic problem rather than a problem with any of them as politicians. It doesn't seem likely that the latest one will have any better luck...

Another one.. ? they really should try letting them do their job instead of replacing them every 10 minutes.

I like the fact that he's a fiscal conservative, but I don't like the fact that he doesn't consider Japan's Class A war criminals to be war criminals at all.

Oh is Kan finally 寝る?

I always said that if you just learn the current Prime Minister's name you will pretty soon get through all the Kanji...

mizunooto Wrote:Oh is Kan finally 寝る?

I always said that if you just learn the current Prime Minister's name you will pretty soon get through all the Kanji...

Wait until you start learning jinemiyoukanji 人名用漢字. All 986 of them, then you'll know kanji well

Good rundown on the new guy. Even Japanese people barely know who he is.

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/08/31/...more-21245

I was watching TV with a Japanese girl as he was elected... and she seemed awfully mad about him being chosen. So at least one person knows who he is and dislikes him, haha.

Tzadeck Wrote:I was watching TV with a Japanese girl as he was elected... and she seemed awfully mad about him being chosen. So at least one person knows who he is and dislikes him, haha.

when this is the foundation of our political arguments...
this is the worst Japanese politics discussion thread ever, lol.

i remember when i wanted to start reading japanese newspapers, it was filled with scandals so it got real depressing. THEN the earthquake hit.

i remember there was a real popular foreign minister named maehara who had to resign after it was revealed he illegally took some funds. apparently he was running for prime minister and was the most popular guy but he didn't make it. maybe that's why that girl was angry.

the ozawa guy they keep mentioning... apparently he's some sort of power broker who controls everything in the background. i remember a lot of people on lang-8 weren't happy with his ways, because they kept fighting and scandals took the forefront over helping an ailing economy with a strong yen.

Haha, obviously my last comment was tongue-in-cheek.

Actually, when I first came back to Japan everyone was talking about how Ozawa would probably be prime minister, but somewhat like with Maehara there was finance scandle.

In reality, I think the Japanese government is such a strong oligarchy that there's actually no difference when a certain person becomes the prime minister. There's a small group of people who hold the most power, and they continue to hold the most power despite what happens officially in the political arena. Obviously Ozawa is one of the biggest players.

Which is one of the reasons why people seem largely disinterested in politics in Japan. I was really surprised when the girl I was with was upset, actually, haha. Partly because she's a young college girl, which is not really a group in Japan that normally cares about politics, and partly because she's just kind of loopy in general.

It is a little strange having a guy leading a country the people did not elect. Kind of like when we had Bush.

bodhisamaya Wrote:It is a little strange having a guy leading a country the people did not elect. Kind of like when we had Bush.

LOL

Tzadeck Wrote:Haha, obviously my last comment was tongue-in-cheek.

yeah yeah, i know. =)

the OP was already hilarious to me.

"hey guys, i heard the patriots made the super bowl! what do you guys think?
but i don't know anything about american football. "


still, as someone said before storming off... we bakas tend to create interesting discussion material from nothing. =)



btw, i also feel that american politics focus too much on the president and not enough on congress, who has an equal say. which is why nothing gets done because they're always split. i guess japan is ahead because they know that already.

Seems like he could be good, except about the war criminal thing haha. Although his opinion on war criminals is a hell of a lot less important than his views on the economy. I hope he can actually achieve something.