Thursday, February 7, 2013

Goshi Hosono Didn't Run for DPJ Leadership in December, Because His Infant Daughter Just Died


First, from the news, as reported by News Post Seven (2/7/2013; my summary, not the literal translation):

Overwhelming number of DPJ politicians wanted Goshi Hosono to run in the DPJ leadership election in December, after Yoshihiko Noda resigned, taking responsibility for the disastrous election result, but Hosono resisted the call. He didn't explain why to the disappointed supporters.

In a gathering in January, Hosono finally told them the reason, that his infant daughter had died right before the December leadership election. According to the source who attended the gathering, Hosono said, "I knew it was the time to put the party first, but I thought it was the time to devote myself to my family, as the father."

According to the source, Hosono's child was due this June but was born 6 months prematurely. Hosono was at his wife at the hospital every day. They named the baby with the name that the family had prepared, and called the baby by the name to encourage her. But the baby died a few days later.

Hosono eventually accepted the position of the secretary-general of the party, a very powerful position, after his wife told him to do so. "You are a politician. Do what you are good at, for the party."


And here are some examples of the reaction (on a togetter) from anti-nuclear net citizens to Mr. Hosono and his wife's personal tragedy. While couching with words like "poor child", they say:

It's probably from eating contaminated rice and contaminated food from Fukushima. He's got what he deserves.

It's nothing but God's punishment.

It's because Hosono is guilty of spreading radioactive materials [in reference to the wide-area disposal of disaster debris].

[Against people who said he should be considerate to a parent who just lost his baby daughter,] So it's OK for such a person to hurt others as long as he lost his daughter? You're crazy.


God's punishment. So it's OK for them to talk like Shintaro Ishihara (who said the March 11, 2011 tsunami was God's punishment), as long as they are against nuclear power.

There are similar kind of tweets over the plant engineering company whose workers were killed in the hostage-taking crisis in Algeria recently. They say the workers deserve the fate, because they work for a company that designs nuclear power plants. They also say the Japanese government sent a government jet to bring the surviving workers home because the company is part of the nuclear industry. (And yes, all these are somehow a sinister plot by the United States.)

Then, these tweets are apparently effectively used by the "other side" to discredit the anti-nuclear people. Then, there are people who attack the person who complied the togetter, calling him "scum" for trying to make people look bad.

"Whatever" is all I can say at this point.

8 comments:

wren said...

We can say "whatever" now, and I certainly do, but I fear the direction this is all going.

Maybe Japan really is being run by secret Koreans just to benefit the Jews, with the help of the CIA, but I am not too sure of it.

When the economy starts to collapse, as seems increasingly unavoidable within a few years, however, sentiments like that could lead to all manner of bad hehavior. If history is any guide -- and usually it is -- things could get very, very ugly.

JAnonymous said...

Depending how you look, internet can be a sad little place with sad little people.

One might have not liked the man, but his opinions and his struggle with life are different things. When you get a life, you usually get to see people you are not really fond of, on a daily basis. That's life.

There are all kind of persons in the world, and stupid opinions are warranted by free speech. There's not much we can do about it, except not looking. You'll always hear people cheer on the mishaps of those they don't like. This is human nature.

The main problem is that Internet gives any voice the same publishing power to reach billions. This is not something to take lightly. Who ponders the potential billion readers when he posts a tweet, writes a blog entry, a comment, an online news article, etc... ?

Add to the mix: the realtime nature of the Internet and the fact that bursts of emotions can trigger shameful behavior, things you'd retract in writing if you could stop the process...

Actually, it is amazing that the Internet is not yet censored world-wide. It is also a good thing, the drawback being what you just described here, in this post.

RIP the Hosonos' daughter. 3-4 months in the womb is just too early to be able to be saved, even though her weight was good (I'd expect lungs and heart problems, at least). I hope they won't be afraid to try again, Japan needs more kids.

And yeh, I agree with wren, this will end badly. I just hope for a few more years, so that my kids are old enough that they won't get hurt.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

When Hosono declined to run in the election, the reason as bandied about by the media and the net citizens at that time was another infidelity by Hosono.

For good or bad, that's the net. The problem is that there are many people, particularly Japanese in Japan who simply keep absorbing all the crap indiscriminately as truth and get bloated and literally sick.

Apolline said...

Poor man, I'm sorry for him and her wife.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't call it "God's punishment", but there's certainly an element of logical punishment there. I mean, he should have expected as much from supporting radioactive contamination.

And I wouldn't compare with Shintaro Ishihara, because his statements are utterly baseless and nonsensical with no logical reasoning.

Anonymous said...

and to all the "should have" that are probably in their slippers at their desktop, I would quote a female friend : " slippers ? you feel good inside, but you don't want to go out with them "

m a x l i said...

God's punishment? What did the little six-month-too-early do wrong to deserve such punishment? Why did the mother need punishment? What kind of god is that people with such opinions believe in?

Is there a way to know these are indeed anti-nuclear voices? (I can't read the japanese link.) Could this be people suddenly appearing out of nowhere and pretending to be something? I see all the time (last time today) statements by people which start by saying they are anti-nuclear and then continue by repeating the usual repertoire of manipulative half-truth of the nuclear shills.

Anonymous said...

Just watch the state of health of the politicians, they would be dropping like flies one by one. All those lies and toxic radiation mix cannot be good for anyone. It is lethal to most especially ones living ignorance!.

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