Hello from Yokosuka, and welcome to the “retired gaijin” version of Japan-gazer, which I think will continue to morph over time, but just wanted to get it started and see where things go through what’s ahead. This short “Update” version, I hope to send once in a while, using Japanese internet news blurbs/sources to follow what’s happening here. Yoroshiku! John N.

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平成29年１０月２日 = (02 OCT 2017)

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= This week’s poem (from: https://carllafong.blogspot.jp/)

山神社

Around the shrine
There is no sound,
Muted ancient
Holy ground,
Silence soothing,
And profound…
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Things Going On Lately

1. Releasing its campaign pledges on Monday (02 OCT) for the House of Representatives election on Oct. 22, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party clarified its aim of amending Japan’s constitution, including its pacifist Article 9, for the first time since the supreme law was put into force in May 1947. In the pledges, the LDP stressed that it aims to change the constitution by submitting its draft revisions to the Diet, the country’s parliament, after full-fledged discussions in and outside the party and winning support from two-thirds or more of the members of both chambers of the Diet for proposing the constitutional amendments. It is the first time for the LDP to set out a policy of seeking constitutional amendments as a centerpiece in its election promises. In the pledges for the upcoming general election for the all-important Lower House, the LDP also called for allocating revenue from the planned consumption tax rate increase to 10 pct from 8 pct in October 2019 for the establishment of a social security system focusing on all generations. Also underlining the importance of maintaining a tough stance against North Korea, which is escalating its provocations, the LDP apparently highlighted its ability to continue to lead the government in a challenging security environment. (Jiji Press)

* COMMENT: I will send along an interesting Mainichi editorial about it later, but Japanese pacifism has deep roots which draw sustenance from a lingering sense of injustice & unfairness between those who were associated with the pre-WW-II Imperial government/military, and those who were not (and then had U.S. bombs dropped on their heads.) On the other hand, is allowing the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF) to be called a “military” really such a bad thing…?

2. Democratic Party Deputy President Yukio Edano said Monday (02 OCT) that he will form a new political party with other DP liberal members opposed to the party’s effective merger into Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s new party. The Oct. 22 House of Representatives election is now expected to see three-way battles among the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, the alliance of Koike’s Kibo no To (Party of Hope) and Osaka-based Nippon Ishin no Kai, and a camp including the Edano party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. Edano and other DP members who are former lawmakers of the all-important lower chamber of parliament decided to create the new party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. They oppose the Koike party’s policy of rejecting DP members who do not support constitutional amendment or the national security laws that entered into force last year. The new party is likely to be joined by DP members including Vice President Shoichi Kondo, Senior Deputy Secretary-General Kiyomi Tsujimoto, former President Banri Kaieda and former Lower House Vice Speaker Hirotaka Akamatsu. (Jiji Press)

* COMMENT: This story has been hard to miss and is ALL OVER/TOP PLAY on Japanese TV News this week. More political amoeba-splitting ongoing with the opposition political parties, as the former socialists/liberals are getting divided-out from the conservatives in the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, it appears Governor Koike is sure using-up a lot of her political capital.

3. The U.S. government is sounding out Japan about a visit by President Donald Trump on Nov 5-7, including a plan to play golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on arrival day ahead of formal talks the next day, a diplomatic source said Monday (18 SEP). Abe and Trump played golf near the U.S. leader’s Florida vacation home in February after holding their first meeting in Washington following Trump’s swearing in as U.S. president the previous month. During the envisioned meeting on Nov 6 in the Japanese capital, the two leaders are likely to discuss North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests as well as bilateral trade issues, including the U.S. trade deficit with Japan, the source said. Japan’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, only said that Tokyo is arranging a schedule with Washington. Abe was the first Asian leader to hold a meeting with Trump after he became president. (NewsOnJapan.com)

* COMMENT: For those who have never experienced it, “Golf Diplomacy” usually works — if nothing else, it allows for long (private) conversations. Also, you can sometimes judge a person’s character by how they act after making a truly awful shot… IMHO, smart approach, right from the start, by PM Abe.

4. Child-rearing families want to see quick action to realize free education for preschoolers, a measure proposed by Prime Shinzo Abe ahead of the dissolution of the House of Representatives for a snap election. “I’m glad (about the measure) but I wonder whether it will be put into practice,” said Mihoko Toida of Mitaka, western Tokyo, mother of a two-year-old boy. “I won’t feel relieved until it becomes clear when (the measure will be implemented).” Toida, 23, hopes to find a job in the beauty care industry in which her husband works. But she cannot work because she remains unable to find a nursery for her son. Politicians “have talked loudly about the decrease in the number of children. But there has been no result,” she said. “When will they do something?” In the Sugamo district in central Tokyo, which many elderly people like to visit, Tokuaki Hayashi, 86, showed support for fresh assistance to child-rearing generations. (Jiji Press)

* COMMENT: In recent years there has been a CONSTANT flow of articles about Japan’s aging & declining population. Well, more & free pre-schools is the obvious solution. But making it happen is tough — hope GOJ & local gov’ts figure things out…

5. Foreign tourists now can buy sake and other alcoholic beverages tax-free at breweries and distilleries in Japan. Launched on Sunday (01 OCT), the tax-free program is expected to give a further boost to already brisk exports of sake and make tours to breweries, wineries and distillers more popular among visitors to the country, industry people said. Under the program, if a foreign tourist buys a 720-milliliter “seishu” sake bottle at a shop on the premises of a government-designated brewery where the sake was produced, the 86.4-yen liquor tax and the 8 pct consumption tax will be exempted. Since July, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association has offered workshops for operators of breweries to help them get prepared for an increase in visitors from other countries. “We are teaching English phrases to explain how to make sake and other products and what are interesting to foreign visitors,” said an official of the association, adding applications for the workshops are coming from all over the country. (Jiji Press)

* COMMENT: BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK!!

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