Japan's interesting new Prime Minister

[A ke bono kane kotto]

Have a look at this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro_Aso) Taro Aso is not just the average Japanese politician. He stands out by a number of points.

His is a Catholic who studied in the USA (Stanford University) and the UK (London School of Economics).

He worked in the diamond business in Sierra Leone (ever heard of blood diamonds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Diamonds) ?), then worked for his father's mining company in Brazil. He speaks English and Portuguese fluently.

Our man is not just a businessman and politician, he was also a member of the Japanese shooting team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

On the family side, he is also the grandson of former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, and the great-grand-son of Toshimichi Ōkubo, one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. His father was a close associate of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, and his wife is the third daughter of Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki. To top it all, his younger sister, Nobuko, is the wife of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a first cousin of the Emperor Akihito. Quite a pedigree ! I don't know if his sister is also a Catholic, but that would be strange for a member of the Imperial Family, the "spiritual leaders" of Shintoism.

It does not make him more clever for that. On October 15, 2005, he praised Japan for having "one culture, one civilization, one language, and one ethnic group," and stated that it was the only such country in the world. I am not going to make a list of countries that also have a single culture and language (Iceland, Greece...). The big blunder was to think that the Japanese are a single, homogenous ethnic group. It is not ! Okinawans and Ainus are clearly different. Japanese people themselves are an admixture of many ethnic groups (http://www.jref.com/culture/origins_japanese_people.shtml), more so than the Koreans.

[bammbamm&pebbles]

" New transport minister Nariaki Nakayama on Friday apologized over his controversial remarks that included calling Japan ‘‘ethnically homogenous,’’ in face of criticism triggered not only from opposition parties but from ruling party members. ".Nakayama's official resignation was accepted by Aso administration this past weekend.

The symptoms of a country that is obsessed with "being homogeneous".

Japan's foremost nationalist,Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, wrote in 1968, for example, that Japan was effectively a homogenous country that had maintained an "absolutely original culture" for centuries.

26 years later,he refuted his own words.

In Ishihara's 1994 book "No-to-ieru Asia" ("Asia that can say no"), however, he described the perception of Japan as an ethnically homogeneous country as absurd, stating that Japan is a mixture of "all the ethnic groups in Asia."

Exactly,Japanese are more ' mud ' than the Koreans.There is some evidence that Austro-Asiatic people ( Hayato & Kumaso absored by the Yayoi ) and early Japanese had similar habits of teeth blackening and tattooing their faces, etc. These people would like be related to today's indigenous Vietnamese.The Viet women always have the tradition of ' blackened their teeth ' ( see photo & article ),it's still practice today over there.

http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/20949

[grapefruit]

He does have impressive credentials. The only possible weakness I can find in his profile is his first name "Taro". :wave: Indeed he is the first and only person I know who actually has this name...

[Gackt21]

I think he has a couple screws loss. The Japanese have different groups of people within their society. Not as much of a difference as my country but they have different people.

[JerseyBoy]

Japanese politicians = Lots of hot air and no brain. Sorry about sarcasm. I find none of them inspiring. Is he that good in communicating in English? Most of the Japanese politicians' English is too stilted to be useful in high level dialogue with the world leaders (or any leaders in the world for that matter).

[Uncle Frank]

Japanese politicians = Lots of hot air and no brain. Sorry about sarcasm. I find none of them inspiring. Is he that good in communicating in English? Most of the Japanese politicians' English is too stilted to be useful in high level dialogue with the world leaders (or any leaders in the world for that matter).

I have seen very few politicians of any country, not just Japan, that impress me as having good human qualities.

Uncle Frank

:blush:

[JerseyBoy]

I have seen very few politicians of any country, not just Japan, that impress me as having good human qualities.
Uncle Frank
:blush:
But, you gotta admit Aso is a very low grade PM (among many low grade PMs of late in Japan). I don't follow Japanese politics at all except for some news articles in English. I just hope all of LDP (the current incumbents in the lower house) to loose their seats forever in the next election (I also want the commie party to loose their seats as well in the one fell swoop).
I have never cast a vote in Japan (sorry:)). So, I am not an active concerned citizen of Japan as I am in the process of going overseas for the very long haul again-this time for a semi permanent basis).
(but, I think it would be hard to go below the level of George W. Bush's competence. On the good note: he gave a slight hope that a person with a poor command of English and reduced mental capacity can hold a highest public office in USA)

[Sasuke17]

I don't know a lot about there new leader, but there is nothing wrong with having pride in your country & it's people.
There are few countries left with one language, one people, & the Japanese people are still willing to stick together. Once you loose boundaries & an official language, you seise being a country. I live in America, & those qualities are lost here. I see Asia as the super power. It just seems in most countries including America, that the ones in power serve themselves & there agenda. In the end the people are the ones who suffer. Since I am one of those people & I have no power, I decided to pray for all leaders to do what was best for the people, & that they would follow what God wanted them to do. It helps me feel better & gives me hope.

[grapefruit]

I don't know a lot about there new leader, but there is nothing wrong with having pride in your country & it's people.
There are few countries left with one language, one people, & the Japanese people are still willing to stick together.
Japan has minorities and minority languages are spoken within the country.

Anyway, I recently heard that the name "Taro" or "Ichiro" is common among second generation politicians who inherited their fathers' political influence. In Japan, voting is still conducted by writing down the candidate's name so that the simplest name like "Taro" is often chosen intentionally by politicians who desire their sons to be politicians in the future.

[JerseyBoy]

Japan has minorities and minority languages are spoken within the country.
Anyway, I recently heard that the name "Taro" or "Ichiro" is common among second generation politicians who inherited their fathers' political influence. In Japan, voting is still conducted by writing down the candidate's name so that the simplest name like "Taro" is often chosen intentionally by politicians who desire their sons to be politicians in the future.
I did not know the Japanese voters actually hand-write the candidate's name of their choice. Do they accept the names in alphabets instead of Japanese characters?

[A ke bono kane kotto]

Have a look at this : Gaffes put Japan's Aso under fire (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7765681.stm).

Less than three months after taking office, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is watching his poll numbers plummet.

The latest figures, from four separate polls, put his approval rating between 21 and 25.5%, down at least 15 points from November.

The charismatic Mr Aso - Japan's fourth prime minister in three years - was meant to give the party enough of a bounce to call and win an election.

Instead public confidence in him is in freefall. His popularity is lower than that of both Mr Fukuda and his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, when they stepped down.

They say the problem is "his big mouth".

His own ministers aren't better :

Almost as soon as Mr Aso took office, his tourism minister, Nariaki Nakayama, had to resign after calling Japan an "ethnically homogenous" country that did not like foreigners.

Aso is not worse than the average Prime Minister :

He joked about Aids, said the US was full of "gangsters" and offended the entire city of Osaka by calling it a "spittoon". After a few months in office, bureaucrats reportedly made him speak only from cue cards.

And you wonder why "TV drama" is so popular in Japan ! Maybe the ministers are just giving what the people want after all !

[A ke bono kane kotto]

I don't know a lot about there new leader, but there is nothing wrong with having pride in your country & it's people.

He is insulting his own people ! Aso is only approved by 20% of the Japanese. That's even less than Bush in the States !


There are few countries left with one language, one people, & the Japanese people are still willing to stick together.

I don't understand. What do you mean by "sticking together" ? What do you mean by "there are few countries left with one language, one people" ?

I think that there has never been so many countries built around an "ethnic" (whatever that means) or linguistic group that since the 1990's. Eastern Europe used to belong to either Russia, Austro-Hungary or the Ottoman Empire until the early 1900's. There are now 20 countries. The latest are Kosovo and Montenegro. 200 years ago there were only vast colonial empires and very few countries. Even Japan was not a language-based country during its imperialist period (1895-1945).

Once you loose boundaries & an official language, you seise being a country.

How could an island country loose its boundaries ? What makes you say that anyway ? Why should there be only one official language in a country ? India has 2 official languages. The USA has none.


I live in America

That explains a lot.


& those qualities are lost here.

The USA didn't lose it's official language, it never had one.

I see Asia as the super power.

Asia is not a country !

It just seems in most countries including America, that the ones in power serve themselves & there agenda. In the end the people are the ones who suffer.

Politicians aren't people ?

Since I am one of those people & I have no power, I decided to pray for all leaders to do what was best for the people, & that they would follow what God wanted them to do. It helps me feel better & gives me hope.

Pray, god, hope... Again, that explains a lot. :sorry:

[hogdriver]

Sounds like Taro is very cultured.

I would like to meet him sometime in person, and decide for myself what kind of person he really is, by his actions and plans for his nation. (instead of relying on CNN for intel to pass judgment.)

Being a Christian in Japan, and rising to PM means he is relentless, or it is a set-up to make eveyone believe Japan is turning Christian for some unknown reason.

I would have to investigate into this a bit more, before I suscribed or assumed anything concerning Taro.

If he really is a devout Christian AND Shinto, I would probably seek his services as a go-between and messenger to Emperor Akihito, if His Imperial Majesty refused to see or talk to me, and I actually wanted or needed to see or speak with him.

I will be watching.