(OT) Legislation to Create the Japanese Version of NSC (National Security Council) Passed the Upper House with Overwhelming Majority

on November 27, 2013, the day after the Lower House had passed the equally controversial (or should be) but more hyped State Secrecy Protection Law.

The legislation to create the NSC for Japan has already passed the Lower House, so now it becomes the law of the land.

The voting count in the Upper House? According to NHK (11/27/2013),

• Yes vote: 213

• No vote: 18

There is no opposition to speak of. Nearly everybody in the legislative branch (National Diet) is on board, in both Houses, to give a huge power over foreign affairs and defense to the executive branch (the LDP/Abe administration).

Again, the ostensible reason is that the US wanted Japan to have the NSC like the one that exists in the US, so that confidential information can freely be shared between the US and Japan.

The Japanese government has already passed the national ID law, again with near unanimous vote.

The reason why I am rather cynical about the current hype and hyperventilation over the State Secrecy Protection Law is these two laws - one to create the NSC and the other to assign a unique number to each and every citizen in Japan (with the cute moniker "My Number"). They have passed these two laws already, with hardly a squeak from the media and the citizens.

The words uttered by a Councilor (Upper House member) from the Communist Party on the State Secrecy Protection Law sound great but vain, when the laws that will empower the executive branch out of proportion have been already passed:

(From Mainichi Shinbun 11/27/2013)
「この法案は国会議員をも処罰対象にしている。巨大な行政権力・官僚機構に断固迫ってこそ、国会議員ではないか」

"This legislation even targets the members of the National Diet. Aren't we, as members of the Diet, supposed to fight against the huge power of the executive branch and the bureaucrats?"

Mainichi reports there was a huge applause after he finished speaking.

Let's see. Was there an outrage over the "My Number" legislation and the NSC legislation? Nope. Power grab by the executive branch in these two laws has gone unnoticed, or I should say unrecognized as such, either out of ignorance or out of self-censorship, by the legislators, media, and citizens.

(Is there anyone who retweets my Japanese tweet about the NSC and national ID laws as integral of the State Secrecy Protection Law as power grab by the executive branch? Yes, seven people.)

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

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