CA Governor Jerry Brown to Meet Osaka Governor Matsui, Who Wants to "Explain" Hashimoto's Remarks on Comfort Women to Correct "Misunderstanding"

I'm surprised that Governor Brown is willing to see Mr. Matsui, particularly when City of San Francisco denied, in no uncertain terms, Osaka City Mayor Toru Hashimoto an official visit to the city precisely because of Hashimoto's comments on "comfort women" that blew up spectacularly on his face outside Japan (and he doesn't even realize it).

Governor Matsui, Boy-wonder's sidekick in Japan Restoration Party, has just departed for the US, and one of the main objectives of the trip (if not the only objective) is to persuade Americans that they are mistaken about Boy-wonder's comments about "comfort women" and Japanese sex industry.

To kick-start his tour of the US, Matsui will be meeting with Governor Jerry Brown of California in the morning on June 11. He says he wants to use the opportunity to explain Mayor Hashimoto's position.

What Governor Brown could do is to openly laugh at Matsui, and end the conversation.

From Kyodo News (6/10/2013):

松井大阪府知事、米国へ出発　慰安婦発言説明に意欲

Osaka Governor Matsui departs for the US, eager to explain [Hashimoto's] comments on comfort women

日本維新の会幹事長の松井一郎大阪府知事は１０日午後、米国での大都市経営視察のため、サンフランシスコに向け関西空港を出発した。現地では共同代表の橋下徹大阪市長の従軍慰安婦や風俗業活用に関する発言への批判が根強く、松井氏は「誤解を解きたい」と説明に意欲を示している。

Secretary General of Japan Restoration Party and Governor of Osaka Prefecture Ichiro Matsui departed from Kansai Airport for San Francisco in the afternoon on June 10, to study the management of big cities in the United States. Criticism persists in the US over the remarks by Osaka City Mayor and co-President of Japan Restoration Party on comfort women and suggestion to the US military to utilize Japan's sex industry. Mr. Matsui says he is eager to "clear the misunderstanding" of American people.

　説明の機会として、１１日午前（日本時間１２日未明）のカリフォルニア州のブラウン知事との会談を念頭に置く。橋下氏の大学時代からの友人で、米国で弁護士経験のある中原徹府教育長も同行。微妙な言い回しに配慮する必要が生じれば会話に加わり対応する。

The first such opportunity will be the meeting in the morning of June 11 with California Governor Brown. Toru Nakahara, Osaka Prefecture's Superintendent of Education and Mr. Hashimoto's friend since their college days, will accompany Matsui. Since Mr. Nakahara worked in the US as an attorney, he will join in the conversation if a subtle expression [in English] is required.

Osaka residents are footing the bill, of course.

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"Bigger Shit Theory" at Work: Toru Hashimoto Proposes Osprey Training Over Osaka (and All Over Japan), Abe Administration to Consider

As his remarks on "comfort women" provoked the UN's strong word (here and here) to the Abe administration to refute such remarks, Boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City, with his party's favorable rating plunging far below that of unpopular Democratic Party of Japan, moves on, looking for a bigger shit he can inflict on people in Japan so that everyone forgets about his "comfort women" and "adult industry" remarks.

He's found one: the US military's Osprey training.

He has formally proposed to the Abe administration that he offers Yao Airport in Yao City, Osaka as a training ground for this controversial transport aircraft of the US military.

Ostensible reason? To alleviate the suffering of Okinawa.

No kidding, mayor.

From Mainichi English, quoting Kyodo English (6/6/2013; emphasis is mine):

Hashimoto proposes hosting Osprey training flights near Osaka

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto proposed Thursday to the government conducting some training exercises of the U.S. military's MV-22 Osprey aircraft near Osaka in a bid to reduce the burden on Okinawa Prefecture, home to the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan.

"It's important to study whether it is feasible" for some training to be conducted in Osaka Prefecture, Hashimoto told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga at the premier's office.

"We don't know whether it is really possible...but the important thing is to get started on a feasibility study," Hashimoto said, adding a final judgment should be made by the Japanese government and the U.S. military.

Hashimoto, who co-heads the Japan Restoration Party, suggested at the meeting that training exercises for the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft deployed at a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa should be conducted outside of the prefecture for 120 days, and that Yao Airport, located southwest of Osaka city, could host some of them.

Ichiro Matsui, the party's secretary general who doubles as Osaka governor, said Abe told those at the meeting that sharing Okinawa's burden with people on the mainland of Japan would be "natural."

Other proposals include making revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement by enabling Japan to exert jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel when they commit a crime off duty, and to have the authority to keep them in custody together with the United States.

The proposals were made at a time when the party has been trying to contain the political repercussions of Hashimoto's recent remarks that Japan's wartime system of military brothels was necessary to maintain discipline, raising ire from South Korea and elsewhere.

The outlook for implementing the proposals remains uncertain as Yao Mayor Seita Tanaka has expressed his objection. In Okinawa, Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine criticized the move as "irresponsible," because local consent had yet to be obtained in Osaka Prefecture.

Japan's top spokesman Suga told a press conference after the meeting that Tokyo would "examine" the party's proposals and that it had a responsibility to the people in Okinawa.

"We genuinely welcome the proposals as both Japanese and U.S. authorities are now considering whether it is possible for Ospreys to conduct flight training outside of Okinawa, and Japan as a whole needs to think about reducing the burden on Okinawa of hosting the bases," Suga said.

Twelve Ospreys have been deployed at the U.S. Marine Corp's Futenma Air Station in Okinawa since last year despite strong local opposition and safety concerns after a series of accidents overseas. The U.S. military has already started low-altitude training on the mainland.

Asahi Shinbun (Japanese) has another piece of Boy-wonder's utterance on this bigger-shit exercise. According to Asahi, Hashimoto said:

「この構想が実現可能性があるかどうかわからない。これをきっかけに本州の至る所の空港を検討対象にあげてもらって進めていけばいいのでは」

"I don't know this proposal is feasible or not, but from now on all airports on mainland Japan should be considered for hosting the training."

Boy-wonder will no doubt use the same template as he and his boss Shintaro Ishihara used successfully to stifle opposition to bringing in and burning disaster debris contaminated with chemicals, heavy metals, and radioactive materials. It must go like this:

People in [disaster-affected areas / Okinawa] are suffering. It is our duty to support them by taking in [the disaster debris / Osprey] so that they can feel better that everyone is sharing the burden not just them. If you are against [bringing in and burning the disaster debris / bringing in Osprey to the airport near you], that means you are against the recovery of [disaster-affected areas / Okinawa] and you are racist!

I'm almost 100% certain that this will be the narrative.

Yao Airport is, by the way,　is a small local airport in the middle of crowded residential area. Osprey is to practice flying as low as 150 meters from the ground, day and night.

Boy-wonder's sidekick, Governor of Osaka Ichiro Matsui, has said he is counting on the US military to come to the rescue when a huge earthquake hits Kansai, so he will gladly offer a training location for the US military in Osaka.

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The Economist on Toru Hashimoto: "The scent of blood was in the air at the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents’ Club last week..."

It was the blood of Toru Hashimoto.

It's been a week since Boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City gave a press conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo to lecture them on exploitation of women during wars in general and World War II in particular, only to fall flat on his face (without him realizing it) and did more damage than good (without him realizing that, either).

While most of the correspondents who attended didn't even bother to write about it and the US State Department said "No comment" to a mere local official (that's what Hashimoto is, Mayor of Osaka City), the UK's Financial Times wrote about it the next day.

Now, The Economist weighs in, one week later, and it is brutal. You could sense a sheer disdain in the second paragraph, which effectively summarizes what Hashimoto uttered at the Foreign Correspondents' Club spending three hours.

From The Economist (6/3/2013; emphasis is mine):

Japan's right-wing politicians: Making a hash of history

Jun 3rd 2013, 4:30 by D.M. | TOKYO

THE scent of blood was in the air at the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents’ Club last week. A rising political star tipped as a candidate for prime minister was facing a hostile crowd of reporters after having uttered a series of controversial bon mots [clever remarks; "good words" in French]. Most strikingly, Toru Hashimoto (pictured above), the mayor of Osaka and a leader of the right-wing Japan Restoration Party (JRP), said Japan’s organised rape of wartime sex slaves was a necessary evil. Turning to the present day, he also said that “hot-blooded” American soldiers should themselves be using prostitutes more often in Okinawa, which is today home to 75% of the American bases in Japan. In the great tradition of Japanese politics, Mr Hashimoto was expected to bow before his media inquisitors, apologise and move on. He did no such thing.

In that marathon presser, Mr Hashimoto repeated his claim that there is no evidence of the wartime Japanese state’s involvement in herding what some scholars estimate to have been 200,000 Asian women into military brothels. He was aware of the pain suffered by the so-called comfort women, he assured, but said other countries should look squarely at their past too. “Sexual violation in wartime was not unique to the Japanese army,” he said, citing Britain, America, France and Russia for indulging in what he called, rather jarringly, “sex on the battlefield”. His remarks on Okinawa were merely intended to draw attention to the misdeeds of a “heartless minority” of American soldiers, he insisted. And to strengthen Japan’s military alliance with America, naturally.

Mr Hashimoto survived a vote of no-confidence in the Osaka assembly, but the fully verdict on the whole performance has yet to emerge—many commentators suspect that Mr Hashimoto has torpedoed his political career. This would be especially extraordinary given his party’s having won a shocking 12m votes in the elections of December 2012, a share that put them ahead of the party of the previous government, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as the country’s second-largest. The lessons, whatever they may be, will be of great import to the government of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, ahead of general elections on July 21st. Mr Abe has previously expressed views on the comfort women that were similar to Mr Hashimoto’s, and even more abrasive. A majority of his government agrees with him and press the point even further than Mr Hashimoto did. Mr Hashimoto was careful to say Japanese politicians should accept that the nation waged colonial wars of aggression in Asia, for instance, while 13 of the lawmakers in Mr Abe’s cabinet reject Japan’s “apology diplomacy” for the abuse of the comfort women and other war crimes.

Since leading the conservative Liberal Democrats (LDP) back to power in December, Mr Abe has been advised to avoid the terrain that ensnared Mr Hashimoto, but it never seemed likely that he could keep himself entirely free of it. In April, he queried the definition of “aggression” in relation to Japan’s colonial wars in Asia—in effect undermining the basis of Tokyo’s relations with its former victims. His semantic quibble had the effect of corroding Japan’s gold-standard apology for its imperial warmongering and atrocities, the 1995 Murayama statement. Indeed, Mr Abe has hinted that he may retract it.

On May 12th, the LDP’s policy chief, Sanae Takaichi, revealed to millions of television viewers that Mr Abe rejects the verdict of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, which blamed Japan for the war and sentenced its leaders to hang. Then a record number of LDP lawmakers visited the Yasukuni shrine last month, where those hanged leaders were enshrined clandestinely. A pilgrimage to the shrine is taken to imply a tacit endorsement of the wartime leaders and their aims. To reject the verdict of the war trials themselves would mean setting back to zero Japan’s modern relations with China, Korea and even America. The consequences would be profound.

For this reason, Mr Abe’s government has struggled to keep its actual positions opaque. As the prime minister twists and turns, pulled between his political id and the dreadful reality of making them plain, his spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, has spent the month putting out fires. For example: No, says Mr Suga, the prime minister does not deny war crimes; but, Yes, Japan stands by its war apologies. No, Mr Abe does not want to retract the 1993 Kono statement, in which Japan acknowledged its role in rounding up sex slaves.

Mr Hashimoto, who was wooed by Mr Abe earlier this year as a possible political partner, lamented at his press conference that Japan is once again getting bogged down in discussion about the past. “My generation should look ahead and create a better future for our people,” he said. He said this as if he were unaware that he had just spent almost three hours straight talking about the middle of the 20th century.

Ouch.

The bit about Ms. Sanae Takaichi declaring her boss, PM Shinzo Abe, rejects the verdict of the TOkyo War Crimes Tribunal in front of millions of TV viewers on May 12 was surprising, as I wasn't aware. So I looked for the reporting of the event, and found it at Sankei Shinbun (5/12/2013), a newspaper that's been very happy since the December win of LDP:

自民党の高市早苗政調会長は１２日のＮＨＫ番組で、安倍内閣の歴史認識は歴代内閣と異なるとの認識を示した。太平洋戦争をめぐり日本の指導者の責任を追及した極東国際軍事裁判（東京裁判）を歴代内閣同様、安倍内閣が受け入れているのかどうかを問われ「国家観、歴史観に関し安倍晋三首相は（歴代内閣と）違った点もある」と述べた。

Sanae Takaichi, chairman of the LDP policy bureau, said in an NHK program on May 12 that understanding of history by the Abe administration was different from that by past administrations. When asked if the Abe administration accepts the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trials) just as the past administration did, Takaichi answered, "There are things that are different in the Abe administration when it comes to a concept of a nation or a historical perspective."

I suppose Ms. Takaichi or Mr. Abe could cry foul, like Boy-wonder did, and blame foreign media for telling lies.

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US State Department's Response to Osaka Mayor's So-Called "Apology": Nothing but Unspoken Disdain

The State Department Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said they don't comment on the remarks by a mere local official in a foreign country.

From Daily Press Release transcript at the US State Department (5/28/2013), "Comments by Local Official" (emphasis is mine):

QUESTION: Japan?

MR. VENTRELL: Yeah.

QUESTION: Osaka Mayor Hashimoto retracted his remarks that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use the adult entertainment industry to avoid the sex crimes, and he apologized to the Americans and the U.S. military. Do you have any comment?

MR. VENTRELL: Well, we’ve addressed his comments previously and really don’t have anything new to add. The one thing I’ll say is that we can’t be commenting on every state and local and provincial official around the world when they make outlandish or offensive or reprehensible comments. So we really can’t say much more beyond that. This is a local official.

QUESTION: Just one more: He canceled his U.S. trip. You have anything to say on his --

MR. VENTRELL: Again, I’m not going to comment on every move or action of some local official. We’ve been clear that the U.S.-Japan alliance remains strong, and we’re committed to that alliance.

QUESTION: Okay. So does that mean that the bar has got to be – it’s got to be a national official? A mayor doesn’t do it for you, but if the guy’s a cabinet minister or a --

MR. VENTRELL: When we have concerns --

QUESTION: -- member of parliament or something like that, then you’ll talk more?

MR. VENTRELL: When we have concerns about somebody at the national level who’s made comments that are disparaging or difficult, we may make a comment.

QUESTION: Can you – where is the bar?

MR. VENTRELL: Well, again, my point being, Matt, is that there are hundreds and thousands of mayors and local officials around the world. We can’t respond to every single one of them.

QUESTION: Yes. Are there hundreds of thousands of local mayors around the world that run a municipality where there are large amounts of U.S. troops?

MR. VENTRELL: Are you trying to make some broader connection about the importance of the mayor of --

QUESTION: I’m saying that I think the mayor of Okinawa – right? That’s who we’re talking about?

MR. VENTRELL: No, this is the mayor of Osaka.

QUESTION: Oh, mayor of Osaka, okay. I stand corrected.

MR. VENTRELL: I was trying to figure out which American troops were in Osaka, but --

QUESTION: I apologize. So, okay – all right, well, if the mayor of Okinawa said something, would that not meet your bar?

MR. VENTRELL: (Laughter.) Now we’re going into wild hypotheticals here.

Ouch. And the reporter thought Hashimoto was the mayor of Okinawa... Ouch.

700 people have petitioned in four days to disbar Mayor Hashimoto from the Osaka Bar Association, and the the Association says it is quite surprised at this unprecedented event, reports Kouta Kinoshita (who is apparently at the press conference of the Bar Association).

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Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto Appears to Have Failed to Impress the Foreign Correspondents Over His Stance on "Comfort Women"

Instead of playing a politician, he played an attorney or bureaucrat, in the fine tradition of Sir Humphrey in the fictional world and Sir Humpphrey's more recent apprentice Jay Carney, President Obama's press secretary.

The tradition is this:

• Never answer a question in a direct way;

• Keep talking, no matter what you're talking, as long as you can until the reporters forget what they asked;

• If they happen to remember what they asked, keep repeating the same, only tangentially relevant talk any way until they give up.

Hashimoto went in there, in front of the foreign correspondents, confident, with his interpreter in tow and his prepared, bilingual statement.

What he may not have noticed is that many of these foreign correspondents are fully bilingual, and they also include fully bilingual and bicultural Japanese correspondents working for major foreign news outlets. They are very well aware what he has been saying in Japan in Japanese, as the UK's Financial Times article makes it rather apparent.

From Financial Times (5/27/2013; emphasis is mine):

Toru Hashimoto: ‘Comfort women’ gaffe wounds Osaka mayor

By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo

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Six months ago Toru Hashimoto, the young, blunt mayor of Osaka, was threatening to upend Japan’s political establishment, the Restoration party he founded in the country’s second city rapidly becoming a national force.

Today, the man many thought would be a kingmaker after elections last December is fighting for his political life – part of a broader withering of Japanese opposition parties under the rule of Shinzo Abe, prime minister, who has led his own efforts to restore Japan as an economic and diplomatic power.

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On Monday, Mr Hashimoto appeared before foreign journalists in Tokyo to explain comments he made about Japan’s wartime use of “comfort women” – the tens of thousands of women who worked in brutal conditions in Japanese military brothels, often after having been tricked or coerced into service.

Mr Hashimoto caused outrage this month when he appeared to defend the exploitation as a necessary and even justifiable outlet for soldiers in wartime. His statements were criticised by everyone from victims’ groups to Mr Abe – a man who has himself questioned the degree of official responsibility Japan bears for the abuse the women suffered.

Support for Restoration has fallen sharply: in one survey only 3 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the party in elections for the upper house of parliament this summer. It is a humiliating collapse for a party that came within a handful of seats of becoming the largest opposition group in December’s lower-house poll.

Some in Japan see Mr Hashimoto’s provocations as a deliberate attempt to rekindle enthusiasm for his cause – an attempt that went too far and backfired. A lawyer who first gained public attention as a sharp-tongued television commentator, he has built his career on a rare and often bracing contrarianism and may have overestimated the public’s appetite for attacks on what he sees as suffocating political correctness.

Masatoshi Honda, an independent political scientist, noted that public support for Restoration was falling even before the comfort women controversy, as Mr Abe and his Liberal Democratic party pursued an aggressive economic growth agenda and co-opted Mr Hashimoto’s appeal to national pride by declaring that “Japan is back” on the global stage.

“Abe says his ultimate goal is to restore Japan,” Mr Honda said. “He is trying to do exactly what [the Restoration party] wanted to do.”

Other opposition parties are also suffering, with the Democratic party Mr Abe defeated in December in disarray and polling at about 6 per cent. The LDP is the preferred party of about half of voters, and 70 per cent say they approve of the job Mr Abe’s administration is doing.

Such numbers give Mr Abe hugely favourable odds of winning the upper house, where the LDP is in the minority, and consolidating his power.

Mr Hashimoto claimed on Monday that he had never endorsed the wartime brothels but had merely described the thinking of military commanders at the time. He called the use of comfort women, many of whom were recruited in Japanese-ruled Korea, “an inexcusable act that violated the dignity and human rights of the women”.

The explanation appeared to conflict with Japanese press transcripts of his original remarks, which quote him as saying that, given the stress and danger experienced by soldiers in battle, “anyone can understand that the comfort women system was necessary”.

Mr Hashimoto further undermined his credibility by saying that US soldiers on Okinawa should use the island’s “adult entertainment industry” in order to reduce incidences of sexual assault on local women.

He apologised for that remark on Monday but stood by a number of other contentious assertions, including that Japan had been unfairly singled out over the comfort women given that other countries’ armies were also guilty of sexual abuses.

A 1993 apology that Japan offered to former comfort women should be “clarified”, he said, to shield Japan from exaggerated claims of state responsibility for the system, which relied heavily on local middlemen, and suggested the International Court of Justice be asked to settle a dispute with South Korea over compensation.

Yun Byung-Se, South Korea’s foreign minister, called the latter suggestion “embarrassing and shameful” and called on Japan to engage in direct reparations talks.

Hashimoto apologized to the US military but told Korea to feel free to take the case to the International Court of Justice, effectively telling them to go take a hike.

Hashimoto also seems to think "comfort women" are only about those from today's South Korea.

Japan's J-Cast News reports reactions from the foreign correspondents at the press conference after an Italian reporter asked about his former client, the so-called "Restaurant Association of Tobita Shinchi", a red-light district in Osaka City where Hashimoto is the mayor where prostitution has continued on even after the Anti-Prostitution Law was enacted in 1956:

「かつては顧問弁護士だったことは事実。それは、飛田の組合という『料理組合』の顧問弁護士。日本において違法なことがあれば、捜査機関が適正に処罰する。料理組合自体は違法でもない」 と主張。記者席は失笑の声がもれた。

[Mayor Hashimoto] insisted, "It is true that I was their legal advisor to "Restaurant Association" in Tobita. If there is anything illegal going on in Japan, the law enforcement will punish appropriately. The Restaurant Association itself is nothing illegal." Some snickered in the audience.

That's one extreme "tatemae", Hashimoto knows it, the reporters know it.

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Reuters: Japan's wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran, who says these women were indeed "sex slaves" with no means of escape

Boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City, who used to be the lawyer for Osaka's red-light district Tobita Shinchi, is busy justifying himself in front of the foreign correspondents in Tokyo right now.

Here's a 91-year-old World War II veteran who was in China during the war as a medic, and he was recently interviewed by Reuters.

He says "the women had no means of escape from the walled town where his military unit was headquartered and were in fact sex slaves."

"No matter if they wanted to flee, there was no way to escape".

Well, Mr. Hashimoto?

From Reuters (5/22/2013; emphasis is mine):

Japan's wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran

By Linda Sieg and Ruairidh Villar

SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - When Masayoshi Matsumoto joined the Japanese army in 1943 and was sent to occupied China as a medic, he thought he was taking part in a righteous war to free Asia from the yoke of Western imperialism.

Seven decades later, the 91-year-old retired Christian pastor says it's his mission to speak out about the injustice of the war and the sufferings of women, mostly Asian and many Korean, forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels.

"I feel like a war criminal. It is painful to speak of such things and I would rather cover it up. It is painful, but I must speak," the slender, white-haired Matsumoto told Reuters in an interview at his daughter's home about 40 km (25 miles) from Tokyo.

"I think that to speak out is the meaning of my being alive," added Matsumoto, who returned to Japan in 1946 and later became the pastor of a Christian church. He is one of a dwindling number of veterans with experience of the brothels.

Outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto sparked a firestorm of criticism at home and abroad when he said last week that the military brothel system was "necessary" at the time and that Japan has been unfairly singled out for practices common among other militaries during wartime.

The remarks outraged China, where many suffered under Japan's military occupation, and South Koreans, where bitter memories of Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule run deep.

They also sparked a backlash in Japan. Support for Hashimoto's right-leaning Japan Restoration Party, already sliding, has fallen further ahead of an upper house election just two months away and another small party has broken off ties with it.

As a medic stationed in Yu County in China's Shanxi Province during the war, Matsumoto helped doctors examine a half dozen Korean women who provided sexual services for officers and non-commissioned officers, part of an effort to stem the spread of venereal disease among soldiers.

Whatever the rationale at the time, Matsumoto said, the system and the treatment of the women - known euphemistically as "comfort women" - were inexcusable.

"NO EXCUSE"

"It is not just Japan that did something wrong. But Japan also did something wrong ... Just because someone else is a thief, is it all right to be a thief? Because someone else kills people, is it all right to be a murderer? That is no excuse," Matsumoto said.

"The prime minister of Japan should apologize properly as the representative of the nation and compensate those who should be compensated."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe caused controversy during his first 2006-2007 term by saying there was no proof that Japan's military had kidnapped women for the brothels. Such doubts are common among Japanese ultra-conservatives.

But Abe has sought to distance himself from Hashimoto's remarks, saying his government's stance is different.

"The stance of the government on this issue is that, as we stated previously, we are deeply pained when thinking of the women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering. On this point, the Abe cabinet has the same position as prior cabinets," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference last week, although he declined direct comment on Hashimoto's remarks.

The issue has often frayed ties between Tokyo and Seoul. Japan says the matter of compensation was settled under a 1965 treaty establishing diplomatic ties. In 1995, Japan set up a fund to make payments to the women from private contributions, but South Korea says that was not official and so not enough.

Matsumoto said the women had no means of escape from the walled town where his military unit was headquartered and were in fact sex slaves. "No matter if they wanted to flee, there was no way to escape," he said.

Recalling the conditions in which the women lived, Matsumoto said soldiers lining up for sex would unfasten their leg wrappings and lower their trousers so as to waste no time when their turns came. "It was like they were going to the toilet," he said.

Only years later did Matsumoto come to believe his country had done something wrong. "We were taught that it was the mission of Japan, the mission of the Japanese people, to liberate Asian countries from European colonialism," he said.

"So we went to war gladly then. When I think of it now, it was monstrous, but I didn't think so then."

In the video, Matsumoto says if these women refused, it was the death sentence.

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Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto at Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo to "Apologize" on His Remarks to US Military, Protest the Use of "Sex Slave" Word by the World Media

(UPDATE 5) The very first question was from an Italian reporter who asked about his contract with Tobita Shinchi, and Hashimoto was visibly uncomfortable.

(UPDATE 4) By the way, Boy-wonder used to be the legal advisor to the association of Tobita Shinchi, a red-light district in Osaka City where prostitution is effectively allowed as "free love" between the waitresses and the customers who visits the "restaurants", circumventing the Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956.

(UPDATE 3) Asahi English has his entire prepared statement in English, here. Boy-wonder seems to think "comfort women" are just about some old gripes from South Korea. I'm more interested in what the foreign media writes up tomorrow.

(UPDATE 2) Hashimoto, through an interpreter (not very good, reminds me of NHK's interpreters in the first few days of Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident), just declared he won't answer questions later unless the reporters first thoroughly read the English document that details his points of view. He's blah blah blah-ing how he has met with the media every single day of his mayorship, and how he values the freedom of speech.

(UPDATE) It has just started. And I forgot to mention that Boy-wonder's "daddy" Shintaro Ishihara will be there, watching over him. A old-looking woman is doing the translation. http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv138509152

===================================

It will start at 12:30PM on May 27, 2013, Japan Standard Time.

Hear all about it!

Link to NicoNico Channel: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv138509152

Jiji Tsushin (5/27/2013) outlines what Boy-wonder is going to say, and that sure doesn't sound like any apology. Not to me at least:

日本維新の会の橋下徹共同代表（大阪市長）は２７日午後、東京・有楽町の日本外国特派員協会で記者会見する。橋下氏は、在沖縄米軍に風俗業利用を勧めた自らの発言について「不適切な表現だった」として撤回し、米軍と米国民に謝罪する。一方、戦時下の従軍慰安婦制度に関する「当時は必要だった」との発言は取り消さず、「女性の人権をじゅうりんし、許されないものだ」と訴えて理解を求める。

Toru Hashimoto, co-president of Japan Restoration Party and mayor of Osaka City, will hold a press conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Yurakucho, Tokyo in the afternoon of May 27. Mr. Hashimoto is going to withdraw his remarks recommending the US military in Okinawa to make good use of Japanese sex industry as "inappropriate", and apologize to the US military and the US citizens. On the other hand, he will stand by his comments on the comfort women system during the World War II as "necessary at that time", and emphasize that "it was a violation of human rights of women, and not permissible", in the effort to win the understanding [from the reporters].

橋下氏の一連の発言には、内外で厳しい批判が続いている。外国メディアに直接真意を説明し、事態を収拾したい考えで、会見では自らの見解をまとめた文書を英訳版とともに配布する。

Hashimoto's remarks have been heavily criticized both inside and outside Japan. Hashimoto wants to explain his true intentions to the foreign media directly in order to wind down the controversy. During the press conference, he will distribute the document that summarizes his viewpoints, along with the English translation of the document.

橋下氏は２６日にまとめた見解文で、慰安婦発言について「世界各国の軍が必要としていたと発言したところ、私が容認していると誤報された」としており、会見でも同様の主張をする見通し。また「世界各国の兵が戦場で女性を利用してきたことは厳然たる事実」と指摘し、海外報道で慰安婦が「セックススレイブ（性奴隷）」と訳されていることにも異を唱える考えだ。

In the document compiled on May 26, Mr. Hashimoto says, regarding his remarks on comfort women, "What I said was that all military forces in the world needed [comfort women], but it was reported falsely that I condoned such a system." He is expected to make a similar statement in the press conference. Also, he is going to point out that "it is a solid fact that soldiers in armed forces worldwide have used women", and object to the translation of comfort women as "sex slaves" in the foreign media.

Either he doesn't know, or he knows but pretends he doesn't know, that the "comfort women" that the Japanese military "recruited" were not entrepreneuring women willingly offering services.

We'll find out how the foreign correspondents in Tokyo treat him. Perhaps they've been in Japan too long.

It's not that Wikipedia is neutral on all subjects (it is not), but the difference between the Japanese entry on "comfort women" and the English entry is rather significant. If you read both, check them out.

The opening sentence in Japanese wiki entry on comfort women:

制度としての慰安婦は、軍相手の「管理売春」という商行為をおこなう存在であり、慰安婦には報酬が支払われていた。

Comfort women, as the system, conducted commercial transaction of "managed prostitution" for military personnel, and comfort women were paid for their services.

The opening sentence in English wiki:

Comfort women were women and girls forced into a prostitution corps created by the Empire of Japan.

Mind the gap...

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Idio(syncra)tic Japan: Birds of a Feather at Toru Hashimoto's Party

Boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City Toru Hashimoto has been roundly condemned around the world for his tactless and ignorant remarks on "comfort women" and Japanese sex industry (recommending it to the Marines in Okinawa). As you would expect, his political party, Japan Restoration Party, is solidly behind him.

Here's the latest, literally incredible comment from a senior member of the party. Mr. Nariaki Nakayama is a Tokyo University graduate, former bureaucrat at the powerful Ministry of Finance, and former Minister of Education and Science and former Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism when he was with Liberal Democratic Party.

Mr. Nakayama commented on the meeting cancelled by the former Korean "comfort women" with Boy-wonder. The two women, after having observed how Boy-wonder tries to spin his own words to his advantage, changing stories and blaming others, decided they didn't want to be used in Boy-wonder's scheme to further spin the situation.

As Asahi Shinbun reports (5/25/2013), Nakayama tweeted the following:

元慰安婦と橋下市長の面会が急遽中止になった。支援団体側は、二人とも会いたくない、政治利用される心配もあると説明しているが、面談を申し入れて来たのもこれまで政治利用してきたのも先方側だった。橋下氏に強制連行の中身を鋭く追及されるのを怖れたか？化けの皮が剥がれるところだったのに残念。

Meeting between the former comfort women and Mayor Hashimoto was suddenly canceled. According to the support group, the two women don't want to meet [Mayor Hashimoto], as they are afraid they will be exploited for political purposes. But it was always their side who wanted to meet, and it has always been them who exploit the situation for political purposes. Were they afraid that Mr. Hashimoto would tenaciously question whether they were forcibly brought to [the location where they were made to serve as "comfort women"]? Too bad the meeting was canceled, otherwise their true colors would have been exposed.

Literal translation of the second half of the last sentence would be: "otherwise, their fake skin would have been ripped open [by Hashimoto]".

As to Boy-wonder himself, he now says he wants to apologize to people in the US and the US military, because his words were misunderstood.

Sure.

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"Comfort Women" Controversy: Mayor Hashimoto to Hold a Press Conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan

(UPDATE) It is on. The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan announcement:

P/L Toru Hashimoto Mayor of Osaka and Co-leader of The Japan Restoration Party

Summary :
PROFESSIONAL LUNCHEON Toru Hashimoto Mayor of Osaka and Co-leader of The Japan Restoration Party

Description :

PROFESSIONAL LUNCHEON

Toru Hashimoto

Mayor of Osaka and Co-leader of The Japan Restoration Party

12:00-14:00 Monday, May 27, 2013

(The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation)

* Initial reservations are limited to two tickets and may be subject to further change.

Since 2008, when he became Osaka governor, Toru Hashimoto has been described, variously, as the long-awaited savior of Japanese politics, as a smart, practical, reformer representing a new generation, a populist fighting the hated Tokyo bureaucrats, a fascist dictator, and as "Japan's answer to the American Tea Party movement."

In November 2011, Hashimoto and his local party, Osaka Ishin no Kai, took control of the Osaka mayor's office, the governor's office and the Osaka prefectural government assembly. Hashimoto then went national, tying up with former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara for last year's Lower House election. Their Japan Restoration Party won 54 seats, making it the third largest party in that chamber.

In recent months, however, the party and Hashimoto have been largely eclipsed by Prime Minister Abe’s economic program dubbed “Abenomics.” All of that changed last week, however, when Hashimoto began speaking out on “comfort women,” war-time prostitution and related issues, bringing a virtual wave of international criticism.

In response, Hashimoto made a declaration: He would come to the FCCJ to explain his views to a global audience. His appearance will almost certainly be one of the top news events of the year.

The outspoken Hashimoto loves a good debate, and is one of the few Japanese political leaders whose press conferences are open to all. He is reportedly something of an expert on French wines and old whiskies, and he's an avid user of social media, with a Twitter account that has over 1 million followers worldwide.

Please reserve in advance, 3211-3161 or on the website (still & TV cameras inclusive). The charge for members/non-members is 1,700/2,600 yen, non-members eligible to attend may pay in cash (menu: hamburger steak mushroom sauce). Reservations canceled less than one hour in advance for working press members, and 24 hours for all others, will be charged in full. Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation. For meal service, please enter the room by 12:25.

Professional Activities Committee

I don't know whether the comments like "almost certainly be one of the top news events of the year" are sarcastic or not.

=======================================


Mark your calendar. It will be on May 27, 2013.

Boy-wonder doubles and triples down on his remarks that "comfort women" were necessary, that everybody did it, and that his remarks were misunderstood by foreigners because he can't speak English because of Liberal Democratic Party.

(Huh?)

According to the world of Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka City and co-president of Japan Restoration Party, these women were "pros", and not "sex slaves". Tell that to the Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Dutch, Philippino, and other women in Japan-occupied Asia from that time.

Kyodo News has a tepid coverage of Hashimoto's plan, and reduces everything to "difference of opinion".

From Kyodo News (5/19/2013):

橋下氏、特派員協会に説明の考え　慰安婦問題、性奴隷を否定

Mr. Hashimoto will explain the issue of comfort women at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, denies they were sex slaves

日本維新の会共同代表の橋下徹大阪市長は１９日の民放番組で、旧日本軍の従軍慰安婦について「暴行、脅迫、拉致を、国を挙げてやり、嫌がる女性に無理やり（慰安婦を）やらせた『性奴隷』と言われている。それは違う」と述べ、２７日に東京で外国特派員協会に対し、こうした見解を説明する考えを示した。

Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka City and co-president of Japan Restoration Party, appeared in a TV program on May 19, and talked about the comfort women of the Japanese imperial army. He said, "It is said that the whole nation raped, threatened and abducted these women and forced them against their will to become (comfort women) and thus "sex slaves". But that's not true." He said he will explain his opinion at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on May 27.

既に来日し、２４日に橋下氏と面会する韓国人の元従軍慰安婦は「経験した本人がいるのに、どうして証拠がないと言えるのか」と橋下氏の一連の発言を批判しており、見解の相違が際立った格好だ。

A Korean former comfort woman, who is already in Japan to meet with Mr. Hashimoto on May 24, criticizes Mr. Hashimoto's remarks, saying "I experienced exactly that. How can he say there is no evidence?" It seems to highlight the difference of opinion.

There are an amazing number of Japanese who staunchly support Boy-wonder. They all cling on to the semantics, and seem to think these women were willing prostitutes selling themselves for money. Here's one example of the tweets I get:

Hashimoto is doing the politics of words. He's challenging the existing framework of the US being always right.

What does that have to do with forced slavery under the Japanese imperial army?

Boy-wonder's latest excuse is that he didn't know enough about "US adult entertainment (sex) industry" when he talked to the Marine base commander in Okinawa and suggested to him that Marines make good use of Japanese sex industry.

This is a "Young Global Leader" elected by the world elite who meet at Davos every year.

What a wonderful world.

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US State Department's Response to Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto: "Outrageous and Offensive", with Transcript Footnote Showing Disgust to Asahi Reporter's Question

A reporter from Asahi Shinbun went to the daily briefing at the State Department on May 16, 2013 and asked questions to the spokesperson Jen Psaki.

What do you think of Mayor Hashimoto's comments?

What do you think, were those women "comfort women" or "sex slaves"?

(Oh boy.)

From the US Department of State Daily Briefings transcript for May 16, 2013:

QUESTION: Hi, my name is Takashi from Japanese newspaper Asahi. Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto recently made a comment on the so-called “comfort women” issue, arguing that even though it is unacceptable from the moral perspective value, but the comfort women were necessary during the war period. And he also argued that it is not fair that only Japan is criticized by the United States and other countries, because there are other country military that were provided sexual service by prostitute. And do U.S. has any position on his comment or criticism against the United States?

MS. PSAKI: We have seen, of course, those comments. Mayor Hashimoto’s comments were outrageous and offensive. As the United States has stated previously, what happened in that era to these women who were trafficked for sexual purposes is deplorable and clearly a grave human rights violation of enormous proportions. We extend, again, our sincere and deep sympathy to the victims, and we hope that Japan will continue to work with its neighbors to address this and other issues arising from the past and cultivate relationships that allow them to move forward.

QUESTION: Do you describe this issue sex slave or comfort women?

MS. PSAKI: Again, I don’t know that I’m going to define it. You kind of laid out the specific details there, and we have described this issue in the past as comfort women[ii].

What is the footnote ii? Well I am afraid even the Asahi reporter managed to piss off the State Department (emphasis below is mine):

[ii] Rather than focusing on the label placed on these victims, we prefer to address the fact that this was a grave human rights violation of enormous proportions. The United States is also committed to working with our partners and allies around the world to denounce modern-day slavery and trafficking in persons no matter where it occurs.

これらの被害者につけられたラベル［慰安婦（Comfort women)か性の奴隷（Sex slaves）か］にこだわるよりも、私たちは、これが、重大で恐ろしく大規模な人権の蹂躙であったという事実に向き合う[事実を扱う］方を好む。アメリカ合衆国はまた、世界のパートナーや同盟諸国と共に、世界のどこであろうと現在存在する奴隷制度、人身取引を強く非難する。

I couldn't believe it until I read several articles by the Japanese media and tweets by some Japanese, but some people in Japan do seem to think if those women were called "comfort women", somehow they were part of the legitimate business. And they are shocked that foreign media portrays these women as "sex slaves". Thus the Asahi reporter asked that question.

If you start to believe in your own shit (often called "tatemae" in Japanese, literally "a facade"), you are toast. But many Japanese do not even know that　any more. Lost art of tatemae and honne.

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Osaka City Mayor Toru Hashimoto Urges US Military Commander in Okinawa to Use More Japanese "Fuzoku" (Adult Entertainment) Establishments

In the context, "adult entertainment" is "sex for a price".

Boy-wonder, who was selected as one of the "Young Global Leaders" at Davos World Economic Forum, a confab of the rich and the powerful in the world, was visiting Okinawa.

Commander of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Colonel James Flynn, froze, according to Sankei Shinbun article.

Sankei Shinbun (5/13/2013; part):

「もっと風俗活用を」と橋下氏　凍り付く沖縄の米軍司令官

"Use more adult entertainment establishments", says Hashimoto, Okinawa Commander froze

日本維新の会共同代表の橋下徹大阪市長は１３日夕、米軍普天間飛行場（沖縄県宜野湾市）を視察し同飛行場の司令官と面会した際に「もっと日本の風俗業を活用してほしい」と促していたことを明らかにした。「風俗業を活用してもらわないと、海兵隊の猛者の性的なエネルギーをコントロールできない」と伝えたというが、司令官は「米軍では禁止されている」などと取り合わなかったという。

Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka City and co-president of Japan Restoration Party disclosed on May 13 evening that when he visited the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (Ginowan City, Okinawa) and met with the commander, he urged "more use of Japanese adult entertainment" by the US military. According to Hashimoto, he told the commander, "Unless you make good use of the adult entertainment industry, you can't control sexual energy of tough Marines." The commander ignored his suggestion, saying "it is prohibited in the US military".

　橋下氏は今月１日、同飛行場を視察。その際、司令官に「合法的に性的なエネルギーを解消できる場所が日本にはある」と述べた上で、海兵隊員に風俗業者を活用させるよう求めたという。橋下氏によると、司令官は凍り付いたような表情をみせ、「米軍では禁止の通達を出している。これ以上、この話はやめよう」と打ち切った。

Mr. Hashimoto visited the Futenma Air Station on May 1. On that occasion, he told the commander of the Station that "there are places in Japan that [the Marines] can legally release their sexual energy", and urged that the commander order the Marines to make use of adult entertainment establishments. According to Mr. Hashimoto, the commander froze, and cut off the talk by saying "The US military bans the use [of such establishments]. Let's not talk about this any more."

Boy-wonder's comment is no surprise, as he's been saying "comfort women" are absolutely necessary.

It is absolutely no surprise for the country of Japan either. After all, the country readied what was to become "Recreation and Amusement Association" in three days after the Emperor declared the end of World War II on August 15, 1945 - almost the very first thing that the defeated government did. Heroic girls and women to serve as "breakwater", and preserve the virginity of the rest of Japanese girls and women.

What a country.

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#Radioactive Japan: Boy-Wonder Mayor of Osaka City Wants Spent Fuel Storage in Osaka City, "It's Only Fair"

For the increasingly tired- and petulant-looking boy-wonder mayor aka Toru Hashimoto, inflicting pain and anguish on Osaka City residents by burning disaster debris with heavy metals, asbestos, and radioactive materials in the city he governs is not enough. Now he wants spent fuel from reactors in Fukui Prefecture's "Nuclear Ginza" to be stored inside the city, and all he needs is the assurance from the national government that it is safe to do so.

From Osaka's MBS News (4/27/2013):

使用済み核燃料　「保管を検討」と橋下市長

Mayor Hashimoto will "consider storing" spent nuclear fuel [in Osaka City]

福井県の西川知事が、使用済み核燃料を、電力を消費している地域で貯蔵するのはどうかと発言したのに対し、大阪市の橋下市長が、安全性が確保されるなら保管を検討すると述べました。

In response to Fukui Governor Nishikawa's remark that the areas that consume electricity should store spent nuclear fuel, Mayor Hashimoto of Osaka City said he would consider storing it if the safety is ensured.

　全国で唯一稼働している大飯原発を抱える福井県の西川知事が、使用済み核燃料について「電力を消費してきた大都市で、一時的に貯蔵することを考えてみてはどうか」と発言し、保管場所に火力発電所などを挙げていました。

Fukui Prefecture is where Ooi Nuclear Power Plant is located, which is the only one in operation in Japan at this time. Governor Nishikawa has said about spent nuclear fuel, "Big cities have been consuming electricity [produced by the nuclear power plants in Fukui Prefecture]. How about storing the spent fuel temporarily in these cities?" He has suggested thermal power plants as candidate locations for spent fuel storage.

　これに対し大阪市の橋下市長は、安全性が確認できれば受け入れる考えを示しました。

Mayor Hashimoto of Osaka City says he would accept spent fuel if the safety is assured.

「消費地で使用済みの核燃料を保管するというのは、当然だと思いますね。国の安全の基準がどうなのか、枠組みを作ってもらえれば。そういう方向性でいくということであれば、僕が市民に説明していきますけどね」（大阪市・橋下徹市長）

"I think it is only fair that the areas that consume electricity should store spent nuclear fuel. I wonder what the national safety standard is, but as long as the framework is there, and if that's the direction, I will explain to the city residents."

　橋下市長の発言は、電力消費地としての責任を述べたものとみられますが、突然の発言に波紋を呼びそうです。

Mayor Hashimoto's remark is considered to be about the responsibility of municipalities that consume electricity, but his abrupt remark is likely to cause a stir.

Just as burning the disaster debris in the middle of large cities (often in the middle of residential areas, as is the case in Tokyo) doesn't make any sense, storing spent fuel "temporarily" in large cities just because these cities consume more electricity doesn't make any sense. But this is post-Fukushima Japan where sense has totally lost its place.

Japan does not have the final disposal site for the spent nuclear fuel. You know what happens to all these "temporary" storages - they will become effectively permanent.

As for the boy-wonder's so-called explanation, if it is the same as he "explained" about the disaster debris burning to worried and incensed residents, it will be nothing but declaration that he will accept spent fuel in Osaka City.

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Mayor of Osaka City in 2010 (Then Governor): "Learn How to Gamble from Early Age, Let's All Become Gamblers!"

The boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City is getting really loose these days, after his party's sizeable win in the December Lower House election and a lot of national media attention has been given to him and his party since the election.

The boy-wonder wants to build and run a casino in Osaka, and he has been preaching the virtue of gambling to the willing audience of national politicians for years now.

Here's from Asahi Shinbun in 2010, when the boy-wonder was still the governor of Osaka Prefecture (10/28/2010):

大阪府の橋下徹知事は２８日、カジノの合法化をめざす国会議員らを招いた「ギャンブリング＊ゲーミング学会」の大会に出席し、「ギャンブルを遠ざける故、坊ちゃんの国になった。小さい頃からギャンブルをしっかり積み重ね、全国民を勝負師にするためにも、カジノ法案を通してください」と議員らにカジノ合法化を求めた。

On October 28, 2010, Governor of Osaka Toru Hashimoto attended the conference of the "Gambling & Gaming Society" which invited the Diet politicians who want to legalize casinos in Japan. Governor Hashimoto urged the politicians to legalize casinos by saying "By removing gambling from our daily lives, we have become a nation of the well-groomed and naive. We have to make an assiduous effort to master gambling from early age so that every Japanese citizen becomes a gambler. Please pass this Casino Bill."

同学会は東京都内のホテルで開かれ、カジノ合法化をめざす超党派の「国際観光産業振興議員連盟（カジノ議連）」の国会議員らが出席。議連会長の古賀一成衆院議員（民主）がこの場で、来年の通常国会にカジノ法案を提出したいと述べた。

The conference of the Society was held at a hotel in Tokyo, attended by a non-partisan group of politicians in the National Diet called "Parliamentary Group for the Promotion of International Tourism Industry (Casino Group)". Kazunari Koga (DPJ), chairman of the group, said at the conference that he would like to submit the Casino Bill in the next year's ordinary session of the Diet.

橋下知事はカジノを含む統合型リゾート施設の府内への誘致をめざしており、この日も「増税よりカジノ。収益の一部は教育、福祉、医療に回す。隣の兵庫県知事が反対しても無視。わいざつなものは全部大阪が引き受ける」と語った。

Governor Hashimoto wants to attract a resort facility that includes casinos in Osaka Prefecture. He said, "Casino, not tax increase. I will use part of the proceeds for education, welfare and medical care. I'll ignore if the governor of Hyogo Prefecture is against it. Everything that's vulgar, Osaka will take it."

Early 2011 was not a good time for submitting the Casino Bill, with the Magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami hitting Tohoku and eastern Japan in the middle of the ordinary session of the Diet. The boy-wonder himself submitted the bill on January 26, 2013.　Even though he himself is not a Diet member, he is the co-chair of his Japan Restoration Party.

Politicians and consultants are salivating at the prospect of the Bill actually passing. Here's Mr. Takahiro Suzuki, a Tokyo University physics graduate and former BCG consultant, excited about legalizing gambling in Japan so that Japan can become like Macao:

大切なことは経済を発展させることが目的で、カジノはそのための手段であるということである。...国家プロジェクトにしなければ、カジノを日本で合法化する意味はないだろう.

What's important is to expand the economy, and casinos are the means. ... Unless it is a national project, there is no point in legalizing casinos in Japan.

"National projects" in Japan used to be huge dams, nuclear power plants, infrastructure building for 1964 Tokyo Olympics, super-computers, mercantilistic policy supports for export industries.

Now these politicians wants to make gambling a national project.

Osaka has never been a refined place like Kyoto. It was a dynamic place of commerce for risk-taking, entrepreneurial merchants and industrialists who bet their own money and fortune. Now the boy-wonder wants to lead the nation by having a government-run gambling den in Osaka.

Even in the Edo era with loose morals, gambling was prohibited. Some Osaka residents now firmly believe the boy-wonder wants to destroy Osaka.

Here's one of the gambling stocks, Oizumi, from Nikkei Shinbun. The huge white candle in late January is when the Casino Bill was submitted by the boy-wonder. 50% jump in share price in less than one month. Not bad.

　

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LDP's New Leader Shinzo Abe Eats Curry Rice with Pork Cutlet Super Fast, Supporters Say It Proves He's Now Fit to Lead Japan

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.

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Osaka City Police Forcibly Removing Citizens from Townhall Meeting on Disaster Debris Burning in Osaka City

You don't see this in any of the mainstream media.

The occasion was when the boy-wonder of Osaka City Toru Hashimoto held the one and only townhall meeting to explain things about disaster debris acceptance in Osaka City on August 30 (see my previous post).

This happened after the meeting, after the boy-wonder hastily departed, guarded by plain-clothes policemen. Many citizens remained in the hall, wanting to have the answers to their questions from the officials at the city's bureau of environment. Instead of engaging the citizens, they started to remove them out of the hall, according to this blog who had the link to the IWJ video below.

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People in Osaka City are trapped in Hashimoto's psychosis.

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