Prime Minister Abe's speech in February 22, 2013 at the CSIS in word cloud - Japan More Japanese. Other than those words and a few others, the words are mostly of equal sizes. Probably an indication of flat, unfocused speech.
For comparison, Mr. Seiji Maehara's speech in September 12, 2012 for the Congressional Study Group on Japan of FMCin word cloud - Japan United States Alliance Important Security Cooperation
Unlike his initial election which needed 6 rounds of balloting, it is supposed to be a smooth sailing second time around, according to Reuters.
From Reuters (1/7/2012):
U.N. nuclear chief Amano has no rivals for new term
(Reuters) - U.N. nuclear chief Yukiya Amano, a key figure in international diplomacy on Iran's disputed nuclear work, is set to win another four-year term as he faces no rivals for the post.
A letter from the chairman of the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to member states of the U.N. agency, dated January 7, said no other candidates had come forward by a December 31 deadline.
It means Amano, who has taken a tougher approach on the Iran nuclear file than his predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei, will almost certainly be reappointed as director general without problems, in contrast to his close election victory in 2009.
"I wish to inform you that I have received no nominations and that, consequently, Mr Amano is the only candidate," said the letter from Canadian envoy John Barrett, seen by Reuters.
Barrett indicated that he aimed for a formal decision to reappoint Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat, at the board's next meeting in early March.
Western diplomats are generally happy with the way he has stepped up pressure on Iran to stop stonewalling an agency investigation into suspected atom bomb research, even if that push has yet to bear fruit.
But the Vienna-based U.N. watchdog's relations with Tehran, which denies Western accusations that it is seeking to develop the capability to produce nuclear weapons, have become increasingly strained since Amano took office on December 1, 2009.
Under Amano, the IAEA was criticized in 2011 for a perceived slow initial response to Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, but later led international efforts to agree an action plan to improve global reactor safety.
In 2009, supported largely by industrialized nations, Amano defeated South Africa's Abdul Samad Minty in a sixth round of balloting after five inconclusive votes.
Yukiya Amano is an elite "career" bureaucrat from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has lived and studied in France and the US. He is one of the Japanese politicians and bureaucrats who are viewed as "representing the foreign (the US, mostly) interests" by many Japanese who are against nuclear power and are hated by them. DPJ's Seiji Maehara is another.
What's ironic about it is that Amano and Maehara are those few Japanese who can communicate very well with the international communities, regardless of how "poor" their English pronunciation is perceived to be by the Japanese who hate them.
It's what they communicate that's important, but to most Japanese, English grammar and pronunciation "like natives" (never mind "which" native) are far more important.
The September 12, 2012 event was hosted by the Congressional Study Group on Japan of FMC (Former Members of Congress) (www.usafmc.org) and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (www.spfusa.org).
Mr. Maehara starts out with offering condolences to the families of the US ambassador and others who was killed in the recent terrorist attack in Libya, and ends with reference to the 9/11 terrorist attack in the US 11 years ago, tying it with the 3/11 disaster that struck Japan last year. He delivered his speech in English.
I found the video in one of the retweets on Twitter, ridiculing his poor pronunciation of English, saying "See this pathetic video of Maehara, broadcasting his poor English to the whole wide world!" Well, I couldn't care less about the pronunciation. The speech has the substance, whether you agree with that substance or not.
He uses a capable American interpreter with excellent Japanese pronunciation in the question and answer session. I was reluctantly (as I'm not particularly fond of Mr. Maehara at all) impressed with the way he carried himself. Whether he understood English or not (I think he does), he listened attentively, nodding, and looking genuinely pleased to talk to these people.
His answers in Japanese is delivered in a slow, relaxed manner, without many cliches that other politicians like Prime Minister Noda craft their speeches with. He carries himself well.
I do see why this person is liked much within the US government circle. He looks like a normal human being that they think they can relate to. (I don't necessarily mean in a good way.) Despite the atrocious English pronunciation, I think his speech was attentively listened to. (I ended up listening to the entire video.)
The full text of his speech is available at this link, from FMC.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's new cabinet is already a farce and a joke among many in Japan as "inventory clearance sale" of the Democratic Party of Japan.
The Liberal Democratic Party may not be far behind when it comes to being a joke. Its "new" leader Shinzo Abe, former prime minister who threw away his job after one year ostensibly because of his chronic stomach ailment (ulcerative colitis), was so eager to prove to the general public that he was now fit to lead Japan again that he ate a huge plate of curry and rice with pork cutlet on top (3,500 yen per plate, or US$45) in front of a camera and netcast the whole event one hour before the leadership election, according to Shukan Post Seven (10/1/2012).
I looked for the video but couldn't find it. (I wouldn't have imagined that a plate of curry and rice with pork cutlet on top could cost that much.)
Abe was second in the first round of voting, but won the second (and final) round. The Shukan Post Seven in another article says it was because of the net-savvy supporters of his, successfully trashing the opponents by flooding the offices of LDP representatives who were supporting the opponents with phone, fax, and email messages like "Why do you support so-and-so, instead of Mr. Abe?" His supporters disclosed on the Internet the names, addresses, and contact information of the party members who endorsed Abe's opponent, urging net citizens to flood them with protest.
Well it seems that one or two such supporters even came to my blog in defense of his/her weak-stomach hero the other day.
His supporters have apparently been swarming the net (social media like Twitter in particular) attacking people and the media who mocked his performance of eating 3,500-yen curry and rice, accusing them of the bias against Abe.
So, in the coming general election, the choice will be: LDP under Mr. Shinzo "I can eat a whole plate of pork cutlet curry now" Abe, or DPJ under Mr. Yoshihiko "Fukushima achieved cold shutdown state, and oh by the way I ditched the zero nuke policy for Obama" Noda, or whatever the party of the boy-wonder of Osaka City, who sets off police on the citizens asking him to reconsider the disaster debris burning in Osaka City.
A new low for Japan if that's even possible, but my bet for the election outcome is the third one, out of sheer disgust with the former two, unless the small parties can form a coalition (which I doubt very much) to fight these dominant parties.
There's one person I'm keeping an eye on in Noda's new cabinet, Seiji Maehara.
His ministerial portfolio is national strategy, economy and finance, and administration of nuclear policy. (Now, who needs the prime minister, if there's Mr. Maehara?) He could wreck havoc, and give an "in" to the boy-wonder on the national stage. Sure enough, the boy-wonder is squawking already, saying he has "high hopes" Mr. Maehara, and that he thought Japan would change for the better ("better" for him and his kind) if only Mr. Maehara's policies were implemented.
because the world values the safety of Japanese-made nuke plants. (Which "world" in which dimension is he talking about?)
It looks like he is another "space alien" politician. Might as well, as he made his name during the "space alien" Hatoyama administration.
Spreading the radioactive lumber from disaster-affected area using the "eco-point" system is not enough for him. He has to spread the gospel of wonderful world of nuke and resulting wonderful world of decontamination to the developing nations throughout the world.
Part from Asahi Shinbun (9/21/2011):
民主党の前原誠司政策調査会長は２１日、朝日新聞などのインタビューに応じ、「日本の原発の安全性に対する信頼は揺らいでいない。輸出はしっかりやるべきだ」と述べ、野田政権でも原発輸出を引き続き推進する考えを示した。
Seiji Maehara, chairman of the policy bureau of the Democratic Party of Japan, was interviewed by reporters on September 21. Maehara said, "The trust in the safety of the Japanese-made nuclear power plants hasn't diminished. We must continue the export", indicating the Noda administration's plan to continue to promote the export of nuclear power plants from Japan.
前原氏は菅内閣の外相当時、ベトナムなどへの原発輸出を進めた。東京電力福島第一原発の事故を踏まえ、「より安全性を高める機運は高まっている。事故の原因究明、再発防止策でしっかりと技術を高め、世界に広げる責務がある」と指摘した。
As the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the previous Kan administration, Maehara was instrumental in exporting nuclear power plants to countries like Vietnam. After the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, Maehara pointed out, "It's a good timing to pursue higher degrees of safety. We have an obligation to enhance our nuclear technology by investigating the cause of the accident and establishing measures to prevent the accident from happening again, and to spread the technology worldwide".
It sounds like part of instructions he may have received from his US counterparts earlier in September when he visited the US. On that occasion, he also expressed the Noda administration's intention to consider arms export from Japan, among other hawkish comments concerning Japan's Self Defense Force. PM Noda followed that up with his UN address by saying Japan would continue to need nuclear power.
Maehara was the one hyped as the next leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (and thus the next prime minister of Japan) during the leadership election with supposedly the highest approval rating among the Japanese. (Or so said Yomiuri Shinbun at that time.)
In my opinion, the Japanese anti-nuke protesters should focus their attack. Instead of shouting slogans like "anti-nuke" or "beyond nuke" or "post nuke"; they should say "Prime Minster Noda, stop nuclear plants in Japan and do not promote the Japanese nuke industry with our tax money", "Mr. Maehara, you do not represent our views and you don't even have a public office other than as the Representative from Kyoto in the Lower House. Please shut up."
The chairman of the policy bureau of the Democratic Party of Japan is just that, a party position, not the government position.
Seiji Maehara, who lost his bid to become the party leader and the prime minister of Japan, has nonetheless landed on a very powerful party position as the chairman of the DPJ's policy bureau.
He went to Fukushima, and after visiting with the evacuees from Iitate-mura, he disclosed his party's plan to use the "eco-point" system for residential housing to promote timber from the disaster-affected area.
Aggghhhhh.
What is the "eco-point" for houses? Well, if you build or renovate your house with energy saving features and alternative energy features (eg. solar panels) the government will give you "eco-points". Then you can use the points at participating stores and buy whatever you want to buy with the points.
Maehara is saying the government may entice builders to use the lumber from the disaster-affected area with "eco-points", even if the potentially radioactive lumber has nothing to do with energy saving.
Iitate-mura's major industry is forestry. Iitate-mura's mountains and forests have been contaminated with whatever fell on them - radioactive cesium, plutonium, strontium. No one has tested them (if someone did, he's not saying anything), but the contamination should be an order of magnitude bigger than the radioactive firewood from Rikuzen Takata City in Iwate Prefecture.
If Mr. Maehara has his way, the contaminated trees are to be cut from the contaminated mountains and hauled out of the mountains, disturbing the contaminated soil and dead leaves, and made into lumber in a village with high air radiation level and sold all over Japan with "eco-points", in order for the rest of the Japanese to help the villagers.
This is "socializing the cost" to the extreme.
From Sankei Shinbun (9/17/2011):
民主党の前原誠司政調会長は１７日午前、福島市を訪れ、東京電力福島第１原発事故で避難した福島県飯舘村の住民が暮らす仮設住宅を視察した。住民との対話で前原氏は、原発事故に絡む不適切な発言で辞任した鉢呂吉雄前経済産業相について「皆さんの気持ちを踏みにじった。与党の一員として心からおわび申し上げたい」と謝罪した。
Seiji Maehara, chairman of the policy bureau of the Democratic Party of Japan, visited Fukushima City in the morning of September 17, and visited with the residents of Iitate-mura in their temporary houses. They evacuated to Fukushima City after the Fukushima I Nuclear Plant accident. In the dialog with the residents, Maehara apologized to them about Yoshio Hachiro, who resigned the post of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry after his inappropriate remarks concerning the nuclear accident. Maehara said, "His words trampled down your feelings. As a member of the ruling party I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart".
視察は、東日本大震災の本格的な復興予算となる平成２３年度第３次補正予算案に被災地の要望を盛り込むのが目的で、前原氏は住民から要望が相次いだ放射性物質の除染作業の迅速化に関して「３次補正で思い切った予算を計上したい」と応じた。
The purpose of his visit was to incorporate the demands from the disaster-affected area into the 3rd supplementary budget plan for the fiscal 2011, which will be the budget for the recovery in earnest from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami disaster. Maehara responded to the decontamination request from the residents, by saying "We want to appropriate a large sum for the effort".
また、被災地の木材などを使って住宅を建設した場合、「住宅エコポイント制度」を活用できるよう検討していることも明らかにした。前原氏は対話後、県庁で佐藤雄平知事と会談。佐藤氏は「政府の復興基本方針がまだ形になっていない」と国の対応の遅れを指摘し、復興基金の創設を求めた。
He also disclosed that he [or his party] is discussing the possibility of utilizing "residential eco-point system" if residential houses are built with lumber from the disaster-affected area. After the dialog with the Iitate-mura residents, he met with Governor Yuhei Sato. Governor Sato pointed out the slow response by the national government, and urged the creation of the recovery fund.
前原氏は午後、宮城県へ移動し、村井嘉浩知事らと会談。がれき処理状況も視察する。
Mr. Maehara will go to Miyagi Prefecture in the afternoon to have a talk with Governor Yoshihiro Murai. He is also scheduled to survey the debris clearing operation.
To the right-leaning and the US-favoring (and nuke-favoring) Sankei, Maehara is a darling, WikiLeaks or not.
"Oh it's just outside of the trees that is radioactive. In lumber, there will be no radiation, it's safe" will be the mantra. "Don't you want to help the victims of the accident?" will be another.
My answer: so what? and no. Not through buying their radioactive goods.
Iitate-mura's so-called "decontamination" of farmland and houses is expected to cost 200 billion yen, or US$2.6 billion. Part of the "decon" bubble, as Iitate-mura's "decontamination" is to be done by the national government and its researchers (as if they know anything about radiation decontamination on a massive scale), with the help of large general contractors.
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