Comments on J-List side blog: Japan Election: My View

Japan election my view is a very nice article and ...

2009-09-07T14:33:58.246+09:00

Japan election my view is a very nice article and news....
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girish
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mt-i, yes, we're all concerned about too much ...

2009-09-01T11:30:00.981+09:00

mt-i, yes, we're all concerned about too much changing too fast. You hear politicians putting up floaters about how Japan's sales tax will eventually need to be 20-25% in order to pay for all the things that need paying for (i.e. too many old people). Which is ridiculous since Japan has an American system, not a European system, e.g. they don't try to provide every service to people and taxes are generally low accordingly. That would be a disaster, since even when they raised things from 3% to 5% people balked to the point where they stopped spending money, causing another mini-recession.

Still, if they can stop building a Panama Canal worth of wasted public projects every year, if they can stop Amakudari, they'll have my support. Although not like it matters who I support, being a gaijin and all ^_^

On the plus side, you'll see less of the victi...

2009-09-01T10:22:31.290+09:00

On the plus side, you'll see less of the victimization narrative of Japan's involvement in WW2 in history schoolbooks, and teachers won't get fired for not showing up to sing the Kimi ga yo in celebration of imperial Japan.

Seriously, it amazes me that the "Teachers' Unions and the DPJ are a bunch of commies" line of thought convinces anyone besides uyoku.

The most important "non-pork" aspect of the DPJ's progam, though, is probably the intention to put an end to the supremacy of non-elected bureaucrats in policy and to the long-standing climate of kickbacks and crony capitalism. It would take more than one term to achieve anything like that, but any progress in that direction is certainly welcome (by anyone not on the receiving end of said kickbacks anyway).

Yes, everyone is either happy that their personal ...

2009-09-01T01:47:11.518+09:00

Yes, everyone is either happy that their personal little pet thing will be funded, or worried about what will change. For me, I don't mind paying a little to drive on freeways -- if they're free, there will be traffic jams everywhere, which will suck. Also, the road tax/gas tax/freeway fee system seems to me to be the perfect way to fund roads, since if you don't have a car you pay nothing. Now they'll need to tax some other way, presumably, and people who go out of their way to not have a car will end up paying.

Also, the teachers' union is supposedly knit tight up with the DPJ, which (Yasu fears) will mean the return of "take it easy" education, since teachers (understandably) don't want to work 7 days a week, like they do now. Hence, he is worried he'll have to choose private schools for his three daughters, if the schools aren't up to snuff.

Another thing, the equivalent of Social Security has been sort of optional up til now, e.g. if you are on the "kokumin hoten" system you don't have to pay your pension, even though everyone is supposed to do it -- it's sort of optional. The new system will likely force an American style Social Security-as-taxes system, which, while probably a good idea for the country, will cost a lot to certain small to mid-sized companies, who are just barely hanging on right now.

We live in interesting times...

All the freeways free?!? One of the things I'...

2009-09-01T01:06:25.666+09:00

All the freeways free?!? One of the things I've liked about japan is how they have made a country where for long distance travel, you really don't need a car. I am sure that making cars expensive helped push people towards alternate transport (like trains), while at the same time funding trains. Be a shame to see policies changed so that more people move towards driving.

Har! Yes, I'll fix that. Thanks...

2009-08-31T21:57:21.176+09:00

Har! Yes, I'll fix that. Thanks...

Peter, I think you mean DPJ in your penultimate se...

2009-08-31T20:53:10.648+09:00

Peter, I think you mean DPJ in your penultimate sentence above, not LDP.

This may be due to the fact that I don't watch...

2009-08-31T20:09:52.984+09:00

This may be due to the fact that I don't watch much news and stuff, but this is the first time ive ever seen so many microphones taped together.