Japan General Discussion: You Gotta Be Kishid-ing Me

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japan-official-slams-donald-trump-dictatorship-then-quickly-deletes-it/

It was barely noticed even in Japan this week, but for one brief moment, a Japanese official did something completely out of national character: He expressed his opinion.


"A sitting president making accusations of election fraud and insisting he will 'never give up.' Am I the only one seeing this and thinking, what kind of dictatorship is this?" Japanese Land Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba wrote on Twitter, lambasting President Trump's refusal to concede the election and wondering: "Where has our role model for democracy gone?"

After a backlash on Twitter from Japan's small but vocal niche of right-wing nationalists, he quickly deleted his burst of frankness.

Interesting this came from a Komeito politician and not an LDP one.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Are the Tokyo Olympics looking likely to be cancelled?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Are the Tokyo Olympics looking likely to be cancelled?

I do not see any way around it.  No one is willing to say it because no one wants the blame for acknowledging that throwing billons down the toilet.  I personally have always been for herd immunity to deal with COVID-19 so I for one will for having the Olympics go on.  But given the risk profile of the Japanese as a whole do see no other way out.

Wouldn't politicians and the IOC sooner delay it to 2022 or even 2023 than cancel the games, though?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Suga has appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as Minister of Loneliness.

The Japanese prime minister has appointed a “minister of loneliness” to his cabinet in response to a recent rise in suicides.

As The Japan Times reported, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga created the role in early February, taking after the U.K., which created its own such role in 2018.

Tetsushi Sakamoto will take on the role, the Times reported, while also handling the country’s falling birth rates and regional economies.


Figures from the National Police Agency showed that 20,919 people committed suicide in 2020, a 750-person increase from the previous year and the first consecutive rise in suicides in 11 years, the Times reported. According to the outlet, the surge is most noticeable among women and young people.

Suga said to the country's budget committee earlier this month that people from all walks of life are vulnerable, the Times reported.

Interesting move. I hope it can have a positive material impact.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I admit to having some instinctive anxiety, but nonetheless I am glad Japan is stepping forward to carry more of its weight in our alliance even if it means they ultimately abandon their post-war pacifism entirely:

Japan to Build a More Powerful Military, Citing China as Its No. 1 Menace

Japan has been steadily increasing its military budget since the early 2010s. This is a continuation of a long-continuing policy on part of Japanese lawmakers and in fact in many ways the hawkish rhetoric of Shinzo Abe in the 2012 general election campaign re: the Senkaku/Diayo islands anticipated the current climate in the region.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I have discussed the city of Yubari before. This is a video someone made about it, visiting the city. (CC for close captions, auto-translate into English) Also, a ton of it is visual and thus accessible even without Japanese knowledge.