With Tokyo governor saying that the army should protect law abiding citizens from foreigners who would sure riot in case of earthquake in Tokyo, with Obuchi's hospitalization that was kept a state secret and officials lying about having being appointed replacement prime minister, followed by an interesting new prime who says that Japan is divine and the emperor at the center of it... Freak land !
By the way, there is a new quarterly that commenced publication this spring.
The name of the publication is "Kan", the same "Kan" as in "Kankyo"
(environment). The first issue is about "Perceiving History", with
translated papers from Wallerstein, Braudel, the minutes of a symposium
:"1850-2000, Japan in world History". Of course it is all in Japanese and I
have no intent to translate parts of it. Still, if you have friends who read
Japanese and can translate for you I am willing to send copies by fax (to a
reasonably limited nb of people :-). It also includes a interview with
Robert Boyer a french economist, specialist of Japanese Things. The article
is "Japan's course under the globalization" (15 b5 size pages). The guy (I
did not read the article yet, it's going to take me at least a month...) is
interesting, I attended a seminar organized by the Centre de Recherche sur
le Japon Contemporain in EHESS a while ago, and he was the most stimulating
guest presenter.
Whatever, back to less mundane things :
(from Asahi, today)
Mori invokes divine nature of Japanese
The prime minister upholds his views on religion and the nation, which are promptly criticized as out of line.
Asahi Shimbun
May 16, 2000
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori today defended remarks he made Monday that defined Japan as a divine nation and put the emperor as its focal point. Reaction to the remarks came quickly from opposition politicians and foreign media for their potential to be read as countering the Constitution's separation of religion and politics and denying imperial divinity.
Mori originally made the remarks in at a party marking the 30th anniversary of a group of Diet members supporting Shinto. Mori used the occasion to promote his Liberal Democratic Party's effort to redesignate Greenery Day, April 29, as The Day of Showa, the posthumous name for Emperor Hirohito. Mori said previous administrations have been reticent about supporting such views about religion and the emperor.
Mori defended his remarks before reporters this morning, claiming they did not violate the consitutional principle of sovereignty being invested in the people.
``I mentioned (the emperor) in the context of his position in history and traditional culture from time immemorial,'' Mori said.
Among the Diet representatives who responded to Mori's statements today, Education Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said he did not interpret the remarks as a reference to a specific religion.
Economic Planning Agency Director-General Taichi Sakaiya said he did not consider the statements a serious issue, since the comments came in an informal situation. He added, ``As for myself, I do not think of Japan as a divine land.'' Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa thought for a moment before say that he would not comment since gods were not under his ministerial jurisdiction.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki told reporters today that he would have no comment until he had a chance to speak to Mori directly about his intentions. Aoki did say the government would probably have to consider ways to address the likely reactions to comments by a prime minister.
A representative of the Japan War-Bereaved Association said Mori's comments were out of line, even if they were intended for a religious audience.
Earlier, Yukio Hatoyama, head of the opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), called attention to the constitutional separation of politics and religion and labeled Mori's remarks out of line. Mori's statement, Hatoyama said, ``totally negates the present Constitution, which states sovereignty lies with the people.
``The issue is serious,'' Hatoyama said, ``because we have to consider the effects (of his remarks) on neighboring Asian nations. I doubt that he is qualified to carry out education reform.''