Embarrassing Right Wing Women Leaders

Taking advantage of women power is one of the main slogans for the shuffle of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. Now, it is proved that “women” the Premier relied on meant right wing activists. Three women leaders in Abe administration were accused of their relationship with extremely radical right-wing activists. They need to explain their own relationships.

New Minister for Interior, Sanae Takaichi, and new Chairwoman for Policy Council of Liberal Democratic Party, and former Minister for Woman Issue, Tomomi Inada, had taken picture with the leader of neo-Nazism organization in Japan, Issei Yamada. According to the website, official name of the organization was “National Socialist Japanese Workers Party.” It admires principle of totalitarianism of Nazis and banner of swastika. Taking picture with a politician symbolizes relationship of firm support and acceptance of it.

The fact was reported by AFP as an endorsement of an argument that Abe administration had been gathering right-wing leaders around him. A newspaper in United Kingdom, Guardian, picked the issue with a headline reading “Neo-Nazi photos pose headache for Shinzo Abe. Japanese news media followed them. Both women leaders explained that each of them took a picture after an interview of a magazine and had no idea about Yamada and his political belief.

However, the third case appeared from underground cannot be explained with such a simple story. Minister for Abduction Issue, Eriko Yamatani, was found to have taken a picture with one of the leaders of highly controversial racist organization, Association Intolerant on Privilege for Korean Japanese, or Zaitokukai. Zaitokukai upholds slogan of exclusion of Korean originated citizens in Japan and repeats demonstration requiring exclusion or elimination of them.

Yamatani has been known as a conservative politician close to Abe, namely enthusiastic about returning Japanese abductees in North Korea. Although the man in the picture with Yamatani explained that he took distance from Zaitokukai when the organization started hate-speech demonstration. The office of Yamatani made an announcement that she did not know the affiliation of the man.

There have been a number of political scandals of taking picture with someone inappropriate, such as yakuza leaders. Politicians have good reason to be careful in taking picture with someone. Those three women, who are responsible as leaders in Abe administration, inadvertently revealed their hidden relationship. The reason why Abe chose them must not be because they were hopeful in leading women, but because they would promote right-wing political agenda.

Asian Foes Reach Eel Deal

Although it is still unclear whether they would go forward to a détente in Northeast Asia, four nations agreed with a regulation on an unfamiliar marine resource for the Westerners, eel. Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan reached a deal to reduce total amount of cultivated eels by twenty percent in 2015. Different from ethical dispute on whale hunting, the regulation was set genuinely from the perspective of protecting the resource for sustainable production. However, the deal showed that those nations could cooperate together in a minor issue, while disputing over territory, sovereignty or history.

The resource of baby Japanese eel has been tapered off these decades. Catch of Japanese eel reduced to 5.2 metric tons from 50 tons in 1970, which caused the listing as “endangered” by International Union for Conservation of Nature this spring. It is possible that Washington Convention will be discussing comprehensive embargo of Japanese eel in the meeting in 2016.

The greatest consumer of eel among those four nations is the Japanese. Most Japanese believe in an old story that eating eel in the summer keeps them alive. Eels caught by China and Taiwan is mainly exported to Japan. Concerning current jeopardy of the resource, Japan has been leading the discussion of regulation. Worried about international trade regulation on this species, China and Taiwan got on the deal for their own business.

The agreement is not a binding rule for the parties. Actual management will be exercised by private volunteer organization in each country being established by November, which will report the situation of the resource to international non-governmental organization. There is an argument that the regulation is not enough and it is necessary for them to achieve a binding system. Illegal trafficking is another point to be considered.

For disappointment of the Japanese, it will be inevitable that price of eel in the restaurants will be raised. Prime cost of eel was doubled in these few years, annoying the buyers. Restaurant owners are worried about that the price will not decline, even if those Asian nations are successful in protection. Biological study of eel is not sufficient to fully control the resource. Without technology for artificial hatching, raising eel needs to be done with natural baby eels caught in the sea. It is possible that current reduction might be caused by climate change in Western Pacific. They have not found a fundamental solution on eel fishery.

Negative Impact of Cheap Yen

It is getting obvious for business managers that weak yen may be no longer preferable to Japanese economy. Steep decline of Japanese yen against U.S. dollar is ongoing in foreign exchange market since the beginning of this month. While the tendency enhances competitiveness of exporting products, it has another aspect of raising prices of raw materials from overseas, annoying mid and small business. If income of those businesses does not increase, economic policy of Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, will be resulted in a failure.

While yen against dollar has been moving within the range of ¥101-103 against $1 since April, it started declining quickly from the beginning of this month. It marked ¥107 on Tuesday for the first time since 2008. The main reason of strong dollar is undoubtedly the speculation of investors that Federal Reserve Bank is going faster than expected to end zero-interest policy and tighten money flow soon. It is reported that investing money is returning back to U.S. after it was disseminated to emerging economies all over the world.

Bank of Japan is making effort to let Japanese economy calm down. “It is a natural shape,” told the Chairman of the bank, Harihiko Kuroda, at the press conference after a meeting with business leaders in western Japan on Tuesday. But in the meeting, there came up voices worrying about exchange rate declining too fast. Chairman of Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shigeo Sato, appealed to Kuroda in the meeting that he worried about negative aspect of steep decline of yen.

Cheap yen may improve the balance of exporting business and increase foreign travelers to Japan. However, higher price of energy resources and food products will put greater pressure on corporations and families, making them negative on further asset investment and individual consumption. With no working nuclear reactor for power generation in Japan and psychological damage of consumption tax rate hike, business sectors and consumers are highly reluctant to more spending.

There even is a speculation that yen will decline as cheap as ¥110 to a dollar by the end of this year. It is unclear that further decline leads to more profit for exporters, because they have already shifted their factories to overseas. While Kuroda is still showing calmness with his firm belief of preferable cheap yen, economists are getting careful on negative impact on Japanese economy. It is unrealistic for them to expect appropriate policy from Abe administration, which is enthusiastic on selling political slogan of taking advantage of women power and distribution of job for building infrastructure to the local community.

Great Hope on iPS

Comforting damaged pride of the Japanese on science and technology, a research team of Riken, which name became worldly common with disputed discovery of stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency cell, was successful in an operation of planting induced pluripotent stem cell on an eye of a woman. It made the first example of actual application. Scientists were delighted on the progress of the study and expected optical improvement of her. It was an undoubted scientific achievement all the nation had been waiting.

The operation was to cure an obstinate disease called age-related macular degeneration, which would be caused by disorder of retina and might cause losing sight. The study team prepared a small sheet originated by iPS cell made from a tissue of the p
atient, spending ten months. The sheet was settled on right place and the team would take a close watch on the patient at least for four years. “We made a great step of clinical study in a short period of seven years from discovery of iPS cell,” told the founder of the cell and Nobel Prize laureate, Shinya Yamanaka.

The biggest concern for the team is whether the cell will turn to cancer. It has been indicated that iPS cell might possibly turn to cancer when it would be planted on human body. The team studied various method of creating iPS cell, not to make the cell turn to cancer. The government of Japan backed the study up, while it took serious consideration for admitting the operation.

Different from embryonic stem cell, iPS cell does not need destruction of inseminated egg. If its development is successful, experts expects that the cell will be useful for Parkinson’s disease, heart failure or broken bones and joints. The government expects economic advantage the technology on iPS will bring. A study group of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry predicted last year that market of regeneration medical would be expand from ¥9 billion in 2012 to ¥1 trillion in 2030. The cell might be potent for helping economic policy in the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Newspapers reported the achievement on front page. News organizations lost its credibility through the reports on STAP cell, in which they swung between praising the achievement of young female scientist and denouncing immature method of her study. That revealed how Japanese news reports were vulnerable for science and technology. In the time of growing criticism on some reports of Asahi Shimbun, common good news would ease tension between media corporations. “This is still in two tenths to the peak of mountain,” told the project leader, Masayo Takahashi. Exaggeration of media may make matters worse.

Expectation for Honest North

While having no progress on nuclear issue among related six parties, Japan approaches North Korea to get political achievement on abduction issue. There is a growing expectation in Japan that a number of Japanese abductees will appear and come back to Japan with smile on the ramp of the governmental aircraft. Such rumor is on the mouth of someone who has connection with Shinzo Abe administration, which has always been put this issue on the top of political agenda. Anyway, what is the reason why North Korea is making a deal with Japan, seeing no hope for progress in the negotiation with the United States?

In early summer, Japanese government expected that the North would show the list of living abductees at the end of August. The number of the name was said to be sixty, eighty or over a hundred. Now, the time Pyongyang submit the list will be late this month or early October, as government officers predict.

The reason of their expectation is quite weak: “Yes, because they promised.” The world will ask Japan, “Do you really believe in Pyongyang after being betrayed so many times, you know?” “Although the story had been that Pyongyang would build up new high-class investigation organization and report us until the end of summer or the beginning of fall, we have not received it,” told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in TV show on Sunday.

Abe’s promotion in political scene has been closely connected to the abduction issue. As Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in Jun-ichiro Koizumi Cabinet, Abe raised the conspiracy of abduction by North Korea decades before, while most Japanese did not believe the story. After proving the fact of abduction and return of five abductees, Abe obtained public popularity and stepped up on his political career to Prime Minister. That is why Abe keeps a sense of conviction on this issue.

But it is more than clear that this issue needs to be taken in the context of international politics over nuclear and missile problem in North Korea. There is no enthusiasm in South Korea to help Abe, who has been annoyed by boastings on comfort woman issue. U.S. is reluctant to make a deal with the North with no progress in nuclear dismantlement. The North is also reluctant to play cards with Japan, if it does not connect to some softer attitude of U.S.

Abe and most of his staffs does not understand an unshaken truth that the North is seeing U.S. behind Japan. The public expectation on the negotiation with North Korea is turning to disappointment that the North will show false information about the abductees. It that happens, relation between Japan and the North will be worse than ever.

War on Terror of Police

Police made a great step for eliminating violence by a gang organization, which was considered as the most ferocious in Japan. Fukuoka Prefectural Police arrested the chairman of Kudo-kai, a gang association dominating in Kyushu area, with suspicion of murdering a president of a fishery corporation in 1998. Police is moving forward to dismantle Kudo-kai to halt their terrorism on ordinary citizens.

Kudo-kai, with its main office stationing in Kitakyushu City, is the only violent organization in Japan that was nominated as designated dangerous organization of gangsters. Department of Treasure in the United States seized property of two officers in Kudo-kai, with recognition of the most violent group in Japan with 560 members. The department realized that Japanese gangsters consisted of the biggest criminal organization in the world with sixty thousand members.

What differentiates Kudo-kai from other groups is violence on innocent citizens. In the conflicts against violence between yakuza groups in Kyushu, there appeared civil movements getting rid of violence from ordinary people. Managers of bars and restaurants in Kyushu stood up not to accept gangsters as customers of their business. But, Kudo-kai did not hesitate injuring or killing those civil leaders to maintain their activities. The president of a fishery corporation was one of those victims. This is nothing but terrorism.

While Nomura did not directly involved in the murder of the president, police grabbed evidence that he was on the top of commanding system of the crime. The biggest obstacle for arresting the top leader was threat on the members of organization not to reveal secrets. Police recognizes this achievement as a turning point for dismantling Kudo-kai, if it can deny sustainability of the organization. Citizens expect peaceful situation without terrorism by yakuza.

Along with tightened security against gangsters, yakuza crimes have been going underground year by year. The case of a popular singer arrested with addiction of illegal drug was closely related to a gangster organization. Anti-legal drug sales in urban Tokyo have been a financial resource of those criminal organizations. It is increasing for ordinary citizens to see car accident brought by drug-addicted driver or passenger in a train murmuring something disorganized.

Unlawful organization could be causing social uneasiness in the bottom of our life. If the police, on the other hand, fails in destroy Kudo-kai, people’s hope for non-violent community will be turning to disappointment. Losing war on yakuza terror cannot be tolerated.

Test Score Enthusiasm

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, or MEXT in bureaucratic term, released the result of integrated national examination for sixth and ninth grade in April. It found that overall ability of students was raised up this year. Margin between the worst prefecture and national average was narrowed, indicating less students were left behind. Criticizing excessive competition, however, some teachers and experts protest naming best or worst schools.

The test was simultaneously operated for the subjects of Japanese language and mathematics in all over Japan on the same day. MEXT released the average score of each prefecture late August. The ministry thinks that improvement in guidance based on past results, introducing writing intensive study and connection with ordinary life, and practice of homework contributed good result.

As usual, Akita and Fukui became the top of both sixth and ninth grade. Those two prefectures are known as having advanced method of learning, which is basically letting the students think about solution by themselves. Sixth grade students in Okinawa rose up from the worst to sixth position in mathematics. Teachers in Okinawa introduced “Akita method” through teachers exchanging program. Closely watching slow progress helped students make better effort.

Teachers and parents tend to be excited at the score their kids earned as in every country. City of Osaka disclosed the result of every public school, as it did last year. Osaka Board of Education explained that the board needed to take responsibility to disclose public information to the parents. But it does not matter for raising the ability of students. Osaka is one of the lowest prefectures in test score.

Once the ranking of schools is revealed to the public, it is likely that parents escape from school in low level and move to the area with a highly ranked school. Since families are concentrating to good schools, it sometimes affects to price of real estate around the school. This is common tendency of game in Japan that all players rushing to a ball in soccer.

Nobody would blame the effort of enhancing studying ability of students. One thing teachers and political leaders need to understand is students in Japan are already in the highest level in competition among the world. Education politics does not understand “common but differentiated” responsibility of students. It is necessary for them to introduce tailor-made education for every kid.