Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Japanese Politicians' Logic on Why Recovery Is Slow: It's Because of the Constitution Imposed by the US!

A group of politicians headed by the very person (Yasuhiro Nakasone) who was instrumental in introducing the nuclear energy in the post-World-War-II Japan has declared that the slow recovery from the March 11, 2011 disaster is because of the Japan's Constitution.

The Japanese Constitution was drafted by the officers at GHQ under General Douglas MacArthur and translated into Japanese and enacted in 1947. Hawks like Nakasone have been itching to scrap the Constitution that has "the Article 9" (renunciation of war).

From Jiji Tsushin (5/1/2012):

復興遅れ、憲法に原因=超党派議員

Slow recovery stems from the Constitution, says a nonpartisan group of politicians

 超党派の新憲法制定議員同盟(会長・中曽根康弘元首相)は1日、都内の憲政記念館で「新しい憲法を制定する推進大会」を開いた。現行憲法が縦割り行政の温床になっているとの観点から「東日本大震災からの復興の遅れの根本原因は現行憲法にある」として、改憲に向けて国民的議論を盛り上げていくことをうたった決議を採択した。

The Alliance for Enacting the New Constitution, a nonpartisan group of politicians headed by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone met in the Parliamentary Museum on May 1 to promote the enactment of the new constitution. The group sees the current Constitution as a hotbed of the vertically segmented administrative system. It passed the resolution declaring "The fundamental cause of delay in the recovery from the March 11, 2011 disaster is the current Constitution" and that the group would promote the national debate toward constitutional amendment.


The group like this, or the one headed by the boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City, do not want to amend the Constitution. They want to ditch it completely.

22 comments:

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Article 9 has not slowed Japan's response. Article 9 in fact under proper management should have given Japan an edge up front in developing nuclear technology, medical technology and space exploration. Japan has been protected and freed from having to focus a large portion of it's nation's genius upon war but instead of managing those talents with care for the good of Japan and the good of humanity, Japan fell down and worshipped greed.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

By the way, please do not think I am pointing fingers. We have severe problems with greed in the U.S. too.

Anonymous said...

There is all kinds of slow to be found in this disaster response.
Remember the Skilled Veterans Corps?
Here is an article on how things have gone for the 600 volunteers. It doesn't seem to be Japan's Constitution standing in their way.

http://www.uiaa.org/illinois/news/blog/

Anonymous said...

KSB, what the hell are you talking about? Get your meds.

Anonymous said...

So it's the constitution. That's a revelation. I always thought it had to do with DPJ infighting.

JAnonymous said...

I laughed at the 'nonpartisan' part. And again at the 'museum'. They should actually keep people like Nakasone in museums. Even their own party don't want them to stand for election, too old.

Golden post for a golden week, keep up the good work :)

Anonymous said...

The constitution was clearly written by self-aware radiation particles from the future in a dastardly plan to slow the recovery and preserve itself!

Anonymous said...

@anon 3:16

Is Nobuhiro Shiotani a national treasure?

He should be.

Chibaguy said...

@KSB, nuclear technology is greed and Japan took it. Now Japan and the farmers have to deal with rain and nature that will be contaminated for decades. Ask them what they think of rain.

Anonymous said...

"Nuclear Event in USA on Tuesday, 01 May, 2012 at 06:02 (06:02 AM) UTC.
Description
The operators of the Salem I nuclear power plant are investigating what caused a reactor at the southern New Jersey facility to unexpectedly shut down, triggering fire sirens."

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=NC-20120501-35050-USA

Anonymous said...

Democracy, very often, is an inefficient waste of time. Unlike dictatorships, for example.

Anonymous said...

Japan needs to get its national pride back. Ditching a foreign-imposed constitution would be a good start.

Chibaguy said...

Since tomorrow is constitution day they bring this up! On the 5th when it is children's day will they say get the children out of the high radiation spots? I doubt it.

Anonymous said...

No, they'll blame the children.

"Our recovery is slow because children are taking too long to grow up and help us!!"

Nancy said...

Someone fill me in. I thought the new mayor of Osaka was anti-nuclear and fairly liberal. How is it that his forming party would want to dump the constitution. I had the impression they wanted reform but not that kind of reform? Japanese politics is not my forte so I really don't know. I'm running on assumptions from reading news and we all know how accurate that can be sometimes.

Greyhawk said...

In my country we have a lot of politicians who bog and wheeze, do nothing for the people then blame everyone and everything else for their failures. They absolutely refuse to take any personal responsibility for themselves. Unfortunately I see we are not alone.

Anonymous said...

@Nancy, Osaka mayor is a punk politician, who wants to be elected to the national politics. Thus, says and does anything to get as many votes as he can get. His "reforms" include 100% taxation on inheritance so that people will spend every single yen before they die so that the economy finally recovers after more than 2 decades. He is a nutcase.

Anonymous said...

In a country of navel gazing racist buttheads such a response is a sign of desperation and that Japan really is sliding into a post moderist dystopian landscape. Who will pay for all those reactors to be decommissioned? Or will the Japanese sort it out? Ha.

Anonymous said...

I agree with KSB above except that developing nuclear technology would not have been the logical or moral path. Otherwise she is right Japan dug most of the hole for itself, along with the complications of human history. US role in exploiting Japan also large, but the constitution was written by Jews who wanted to defang a possible non Rothschilds controlled state, by the way. American runs the world and the Jews run America.

Anonymous said...

Change the constitution.
Put it to a vote.
Now what is your excuse?

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought they were politicians not puppets of industry.

Anonymous said...

japan it's your country, quit blaming everything on the U.S. it get's old. You run your country and take some responsibility for yourselves.

Anonymous said...

This is really sad, those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. The US may have nuc'd two cities and forced a constitution down their throat but the Japanese who ended up in power were very eager to nuc themselves the second time around for a few dollars more.

Seriously, if Fukushima hasn't proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that our "experts" SUCK at guessing what nature can actually do nothing ever will. Everything is "A-OK" since most of their guesses are paid for by the industries they are safeguarding. Who would have thought nuclear power plants would be a poor choice on a tectonic jigsaw puzzle that has produced famous paintings like Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura? Well a lot of people but they didn't have any money or power.

While "The Great Wave off Kanagawa wasn't a tsunami it is still a powerful image that comes to mind when tsunami occur. Why is it most of the world uses the Japanese term for a "harbor wave"?

Concerned Herioshima survivor:
"What happens if all the power is knocked out"?

Nuclear expert:
"Well, that just crazy talk because it's never going to happen.... next question"!

***********************************************

There was resistance, much of it from Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. But there was also a pattern of denial, cover-up and cozy bureaucratic collusion between industry and government, the last especially notorious in Japan but by no means limited to that country. Even then, pro-nuclear power forces could prevail only by managing to instill in the minds of Japanese people a dichotomy between the physics of nuclear power and that of nuclear weapons, an illusory distinction made not only in Japan but throughout the world.

New York Times (April 15, 2011). "Fukushima and Hiroshima".

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/opinion/16iht-edlifton16.html?_r=1

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