Japan's Government Headed for Ouster? Good. The Sooner, the Better.

Well, in my New Year's predictions, I said he'd be out by June 1st, so my prediction seems to be off. But the voices to kick Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan out of office are growing louder.  Let's hope they become deafening.


Yahoo reports:


Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Naoto Kan, under fire for his handling of the response to the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, faces the threat of a no-confidence motion this week. Although Kan's opponents have only a slim chance of rallying enough support for a successful motion in the Diet legislature, the move would be a fresh headache for the PM, who has been in office for less than a year. Leaders of the main conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its smaller ally the New Komeito party threatened the move on Friday against Kan, Japan's fifth prime minister in as many years.


Last night, at InterFM, I met with several nice foreigners who are doing wonderful charity work here in Japan for the Tohoku disaster and they said that they were unhappy that there was talk about getting rid of the prime minister. They were of the opinion that we should, under the current circumstances, allow him to stay.

Pete Seeger - Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

Classic anti-war / anti-government song

This kind of thinking always confuses me. Why?


Well, here are some folks who, like everyone else, on the one hand complain that the government handling of a crisis was inept and incompetent, yet on the other hand, they want to give that same government more time to handle the crisis? 


I don't get it.


I chuckled and asked these good folks "Hasn't the current government already done enough?" (damage?)


The indoctrination that people receive all their lives from government run public schooling once again rears its ugly head. People get brainwashed so that the idea that government is here for our benefit is so deeply ingrained in their beliefs that they cannot see the illogical notion behind it. 


Let's just take a few very brief examples, an overview really, of Japan's case. I ask you:


1) Is there anyone who feels that the current Japanese administration competently and properly responded to the Fukushima crisis in a quick manner and timely manner? 


It seems that most people do not. For evidence of that, another Yahoo report shows that: Almost three quarters of Japanese voters are unhappy with the centre-left government's handling of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, a newspaper poll indicated on Monday. 


Why would anyone think that, after such poor mishandling of the situation that, if given another chance, the government would suddenly straighten out and do a better job?


2) The current debt of Japan is 225.8% of GDP. Now, while much of this debt is not completely the fault of the current government, it has skyrocketed (almost 10%) under this administration.  


Why would anyone think that, after such poor mishandling of the situation that, if given another chance, the government would suddenly straighten out and do a better job?


3) Japan's economy is in shambles and unemployment has risen to 4.7% and household spending has fallen 3%.  Also, because of the economy and the worsening unemployment situation, according to Bloomberg, Japan faces another credit downgrade risk. 


In spite of these very bad signs for the economy, the current administration sticks to the typical Japanese government response to all crises over these last 20+ years: spend and raise taxes.


Google reports:


Japan's centre-left premier is taking steps toward a consumption tax hike, a report said Monday, days after the central bank chief warned of the government's "very serious" fiscal state. Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to set up a body that would propose by mid-June a doubling of the tax to 10 percent by 2015, in a bid to cut Japan's sovereign debt, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said. The Yomiuri said Kan would head the so-called Core Member Council which would include 16 senior officials of his Democratic Party of Japan. 


The economy is bad enough as it is, unemployment is up, household spending is down, Japan's credit ratings is about to be lowered and this idiot wants to increase sales taxes.  


Why would anyone think that, after such poor mishandling of the situation that, if given another chance, the government would suddenly straighten out and do a better job?


But let's forget the current administration for a moment. This post is actually about a more philosophical question than the problems with Japan's current government. Actually, I am talking about pro-government indoctrination everyone receives all their lives from all public schooling all over the world. 


Think about it, is there anyone of us who can give a consistent, good example, of a well governed nation throughout the history of mankind? 


Back to locally, how about the great result Japan's World War II government achieved for Japan? 3 million dead and her cities carpet bombed to ruin? How about the over 160 million deaths "organized" governments proudly accounted for in the 20th century alone?  


No. Government is not the friend of security, peace and freedom. Government is the sworn enemy of the little guy (that's you and me). Whenever you hear someone say, "We're from the government and we're here to help" the best thing you could do is turn and run away as fast as you can.


Some of my friends last night said that they admired the American example of government. They liked the idea of a new president, elected by the people, every four years. 


"Nonsense!" I retorted.


For one, if voting could change anything, it would be illegal. Two, regardless of who is president of the USA, nothing really changes. Current president Obama is the third Bush administration. He promised to end the Iraq war, end the war on drugs, create transparency in government, blah, blah, blah. 


We are still in Iraq. The war has expanded in Afghanistan. Now we are bombing Yemen, Libya, and other middle eastern nations. The war on drugs has expanded and there is no transparency in government. What's really happened under an Obama administration? Things have gotten much worse.


The USA is the 21st century's Nazi Fatherland. How can people admire our criminal government behavior? It's obvious that Americans do not control the beast that is the US federal government. That monster is out of control.  


And changing US president doesn't matter either. Think about this: Rome had many emperors. They had Nero, Cesar, Caligula, Augustus, etc. Many emperors. Ultimately, though, it was still the Roman empire. And that empire was built on war and taxation.


It is the nature of government - all government - to expand its powers and its taxation base as an answer to all problems.


The current Japanese government is no different as shown by recent actions and the repeated attempts to raise taxes.


No, my friends, this government has to go. They don't need anymore time. They need to be booted out as soon as possible.


Since Japan's experience with inept and incompetent government recently (over these past several years) has been a bad one, I think, then, we cannot expect a "better" government to come in to replace the current clowns we now have (see my comments above about the nature of government). Our best hope is for no government or deadlock within government.


At least, with a deadlock, the government cannot pass any new laws nor can they raise our taxes. 


Considering recent history (well the history of government since the beginning of time) that seems to be the best that we can hope for.

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This article inspired by the guys from Sunset Drive (web page, blog & info here) who are holding a charity event for New Zealand Earthquake and Tohoku disaster victims on this Sunday June 5 at What the Dickens in Ebisu.

Sunset Drive

 Doors open at 5 pm. Entrance fee is ¥1,000 featuring Auctions, raffles, prizes and more fun. Performing that night will be Sunset Drive, icon girl pistols, Ruby Room Orchestra, Natccu and DJ's TIMUTAKU, goldifoxx, Abe Takayuki. Sunset Drive is really starting to happen in Japan. Check them out here.  

Day 6 Osaka/Fukushima - pictures speak louder than words.

Rei get your arse to Osaka. This is what you are missing!

With birthday girl Megumi. She just turned 20. Dunno why picture quality was like this but I`m guessing its the horrible zoom on the Galaxy S.

Group shot at snack Gift.

Walking from Fukushima to Osaka.

Some temple I ran across while trying to find my way to Higashi-dori in Osaka.

This meal was call volume lunch. Whooo. I can read katakana!

Picture from Namba.

Took me a while that this is the place Osaka was based on in Ryu ga gotoku 2.

Sort of had a quick look at the map of Club Sega Avion. I only knew that it was close to Namba station but didn`t realise it wasn`t the JR Namba station. That`s how smart I am. Did the whole random walking around trying to find a needle in a haystack. I was thinking how stupid I was for wasting my time walking around Namba with the possibility of not finding the arcade. The only thing I could think of was to go where there were plenty of lights. Finally saw the sign of a Taito arcade and what do you know, there was Sega Avion next to it! And to think that I thought finding a Sega sign wouldn`t be so hard.

Anyway, saw my first grandmaster, he was a GM Gouki player with the name starting with Gouki. Didn`t challenge him cause I had trouble with AA Dudleys and a Juri player. There was a Ryu player who used ultra 2 and was outfootsying me like crazy. The thing is, I am 99% sure he was sandbagging cause he hardly used fadc and I felt like he could easily destroy me. Basically I won him a few times because it seemed to me that I was either testing stuff or he wanted to see if he could win with one hand tied behind his back. Wanted to ask him why he was playing around but decided it would be too difficult. Besides he would be fighting someone else.

Sega Avion had 8 viewflix cabinets and it was awesome. 6 were designated for A level players and above and two for beginners but it didn`t matter. I feel like such a noob playing against A levels. Gah. Managed to gain around 1k points but mostly against cardless players. Really enjoyed the variety of characters used. There were A level T.Hawks, 2 Dudleys, Yang, 2 Hondas, Rose and cardless but good Juri and Ryu.

Oh yeah, found out the boss of the old bar my friends and I went to last year is opening in Juso in July.

I Thought the Japanese Pampered Their Mutts

I thought the Japanese Pampered Their Mutts. A woman in England has bought her dog a Rolex!

The Daily Mail is there:

BORDER Terrier Smike's owner can't be strapped for cash - she bought him a dog collar with a built in £2,500 Rolex watch.

Pet lover Karen Denney, 30, got her watchdog's bling birthday gift from a pet wear store in St Helens, Merseyside, near her home.

Designer Alison Jones, 27, said: "It's the ultimate accessory."

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3607806/Watchdog.html#ixzz1NtUCJK37

Nuclear Panic Time? What is Important to You?

I often wonder what people are thinking and how they deem what is important to their lives or not. I never ever wonder if people watch too much TV (they do) or if they are brain-washed by the mass media (they are).


While searching for relative and credible information on the Fukushima nuclear accident and nuclear power in general, I found a forum called, in the expected creative fashion of physicists (I suppose) "Physics Forum" on the Internet that is used by various mathematicians, scientists,  nuclear engineers and physicists to discuss the issues of the day. Some of the things discussed there I found quite interesting. 


There were several threads about Fukushima. The discussions were quite level-headed, it seemed, with a healthy bashing of mass media sensationalism... Just like you've read on this very blog. There were also many scientific comments about the levels of radiation from Fukushima and how the situation was being way blown out of proportion.


I am going to list up just a few of those comments for you and then ask a question that seems to be bothering me concerning my question in the very first sentence of this post; I often wonder what people are thinking and how they deem what is important to their lives or not.


In one thread, several of the engineers were complaining how people are always confusing nuclear energy with nuclear weaponry and how that is a ploy used by the anti-nuclear power lobby to scare people. The over-whelming consensus was that people don't have a clue that there is no way to rationally compare a nuclear weapon and the process one uses to kill people with a nuclear power plant that is designed to generate electricity.


It's true. There's no way that any informed person could compare a nuclear power plant with a nuclear weapon. They are two completely different things. Wikipedia's page on nuclear fission reports:


While the fundamental physics of the fission chain reaction in a nuclear weapon is similar to the physics of a controlled nuclear reactor, the two types of device must be engineered quite differently (see nuclear reactor physics). A nuclear bomb is designed to release all its energy at once, while a reactor is designed to generate a steady supply of useful power. While overheating of a reactor can lead to, and has led to, meltdown and steam explosions, the much lower uranium enrichment makes it impossible for a nuclear reactor to explode with the same destructive power as a nuclear weapon.


One comment, on the "Physics Forum" thread about Fukushima, from a nuclear engineer, was short and to the point. He wrote that the evidence concerning longevity in the USA and around the world since the beginning of the nuclear age does not show that nuclear power has shorten our lives at all. In fact, if the anti-nuclear crowd were to be believed, then our average lifespans would be getting shorter, when, in fact, life expectancy has increased anywhere from 11% ~ 15% in 50 years. He gave this chart below. 

He added: "Obviously, background radiation, atmospheric testing, and nuclear power are major impacts on world health."

Of course, there are many other factors that would play a part in our lives getting longer such as food, water, environment and medicine.... But, I wonder, is there anyone of us who thinks that of the four I just mentioned, the only one that has gotten better over these 50 years can only be medicine. Certainly our environment, food and water has not gotten better.


One only need to look at the average American or the grocery store shelves full of processed, pumped-full-of-chemicals food that many people feed themselves to know that can't be good for you. 

Another engineer commented on how he thought it was curious that people get all riled up and up in arms about nuclear power plants but are basically silent when it comes to nuclear weapons testing.


He wrote:


I guess atmospheric tests were stopped before word "radiation" became synonym of "panic". For anti-nuclear activists, equating nuclear weapons and nuclear power has always been a key tactic. It's just that they haven't had anything to raise panic over in more than 20 years. 


On that note, I strongly agree. Since 1945 to today there have been over 2055 (at least) above ground and underground nuclear weapons tests all over the world. That's an average of 31 nuclear explosions on our earth every year. This chart from Wikipedia on Nuclear Weapons Testing:

Nuclear weapons release thousands of times more energy (read: radiation) into the environment than nuclear power plants do or ever could; known nuclear weapons testing has occurred, on average, over 31 times a year, every year since 1945. We've had three nuclear power plant accidents.


The jury is still out on Fukushima. Many people's lives have been devastated and many people have lost loved ones in the earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima disaster... But, still, to this date, no one has died from exposure to radiation. Hopefully, no one will. 


As far as Chernobyl is concerned, the Physics Forum moderator had this comment about claims that Chernobyl has caused cancers:


"...there is no Chernobyl effect visible in the epidemiological data - background is high enough to mask it."


This claim is backed up by a BBC Documentary called "Nuclear Nightmares." Episode Three, from 1:20 ~ is particularly relevant.  

The BBC documentary confirms the remarks by the moderator in that "According to standard models for radiation risk, the Chernobyl nuclear accident should have caused over 9,000 deaths due to cancer... Numbers have varied widely... But the most authoritative were published in 2005 by the Chernobyl Forum, an international forum of scientific agencies, including a number of UN bodies...." The total confirmed deaths were 47 and those were from the clean up crews at Chernobyl. 


You can view the BBC Documentary "Nuclear Nightmares", in full, here. 


(Please also pay close attention to the information about children's cancer in the same part three.)  


Continuing on, many will say that the discovery of irradiated tea in Kanagawa or other vegetables in Ibaraki are proof that the Fukushima accident is worse than reported. I have another thought on this notion. 


We have a saying, "If you go looking for trouble, you'll find it." I think that now, since everyone is so concerned about Fukushima, that we are being much more careful and diligent in our checking of our immediate environment. But I want to postulate one idea that won't be comfortable for most people...  I am wondering if this newly found radiation is not from Fukushima and we found it because we actually bothered to look. The fact is, it came from somewhere else.


Perhaps it came from another nuclear power plant? Perhaps Tokai or Hamaoka? You know, there was a cooling breakdown at the Tokai nuclear reactor on March 14th? Could these sorts of things be the origin of this radiation? Or could it be from something else? 


I suppose we might never know. Like I said, if you go looking for trouble, you'll most probably find it.


Do not misunderstand what the purpose of this blog post is. I am not pro nor anti nuclear power. I do believe that the worst thing that could happen to us is a loss of cheap and clean energy. But the real purpose of this post is not to defend the nuclear industry. It is to go back to my comments at the very start of this post: "What is important to people?"


Specifically, in this case, and finally to the point; we know that many nations have a massive amount of nuclear weaponry. We know that these nations have been testing these weapons, that, I think is an easy guess, to say that they've released hundreds of millions and millions more time the radiation into the earth and atmosphere than our three nuclear power plant accidents up until now... The USA and NATO nations have, and continue to do so until this very day, used highly radioactive depleted uranium weapons in the Middle East, yet you don't hear a peep about that from most people.

Effects of depleted uranium in mid east. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Most people panic and crap their pants about Fukushima, but when their governments wage war and use nuclear weaponry, they say nothing.


It's a real head scratcher for me. What are these people thinking about? What is important to these people?


As these people stuff their face daily with food laced with chemicals, preservatives and other carcinogenic agents that they eagerly put into their own bodies; things they buy that are part and parcel of the processed foods, chips, pizza, etc., from the grocery store. They eagerly lunch daily on chemical trash from fast food establishments like McDonald's or the like. Then they wash it down with other chemical drinks like Coke that can dissolve metals...


Ex-Max Health Reports: According to a new study led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), with collaborators from the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The researchers found that smoking is responsible for 467,000 premature deaths each year, high blood pressure for 395,000, and being overweight for 216,000. The effects of smoking work out to be about one in five deaths in American adults, while high blood pressure is responsible for one in six deaths. 


People don't seem worry about these things that are known to cause all sorts of health problems like high-blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, etc.... These things that they could handle if they showed some self restraint for a better, healthier life... They don't seem to worry about that...


No, they won't do anything, won't say anything, about that... 


But, they will worry, and be very vocal, about the effects on their health from a minuscule amount of radiation from a nuclear power plant's accident hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away.


You really have to wonder how people create their priorities. 


Is "what is important" only what the mass media tells people what is important at that time? It seems so. We have a society of people who are being led by the nose who have lost the ability to think for themselves.


Interesting, no? Just what is important to people? What is important to you?


------  


I present for you now, a video showing a marker for every nuclear weapons test made from 1945 to 1998

A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 to 1998 

Day 5 - Back in Fukushima, yeah!

Edit - Forgot to mention for my friends who went to the old bar that the boss has moved  close to Juso station which no one could find on the train map last night but apparently its a bit out of the way. No one knows the name of the new bar so I can`t be stuffed finding a needle in a haystack. I suppose I could go find the sister if she`s still working at the same place.....

Edit 2 - Forgot that I bframe5 actually sent me a picture of Non-chan from the snack in Yokkaichi.

Bframe5`s Love Plus Arcade pictures. Hope I didn`t sully his name.

Heading towards JR Yokkaichi.

Wouldn`t you like to live in a house like this.

Waiting for the JR train to take me to Nagoya and then to Osaka. Freaking slow as train. Kintetsu is faster but since I have my JR pass. Might consider using Kintetsu next time.

Lots of rice fields on the way to Osaka.

Note to self, find out who she is.

Back in Fukushima!!!!!

Tsukemen for lunch!!! Fucking awesome. Why don`t we have this in Melbourne!

NMB48 not that I really care. Came across it by taking a different route to Den Den Town.

Went to Nipponbashi aka Den Den Town after that. Actually tried to go to Zepp Osaka to get familiar with the route before going to a live next week but sort of got lost. Will try again tomorrow.

Went to this maid cafe for dinner. Crap service and the girls not too good but it was cheap. 1100 yen for chicken basket and ice coffee. Hurray for my katakana reading skills! Thinking of trying another maid cafe for lunch tomorrow. :)

Went to Taito Nambo for some SSF4. Went to Athena arcade before that and couldn`t even find an SF4 machine. Lots of Melty Blood and that lan like Gundam game players. Went on a tear and managed to beat B level Makoto and Ryu player. Feeling pretty good and then a B level Gen player beat me twice. I play Gen as well but don`t have much idea how to fight him. He outfootsies Abel and can easily punish a block wheel kick with c.mp hands -> fadc etc. He was outfootsieing (sp) me the whole two games and I really need to learn to option select to not let him escape as getting in is hard. Problem is, Abel`s option select are either for backdash or vertical jump and it can be very painful if you choose the wrong one. I think I needed to play like a wall and slowly push him into a corner. Right I`m C+ or CC rank. Let`s see if I can push it to B by the end of my trip. Thanks to bframe5 for registering my user name.

Another pic from Den Den Town.

The walkway from Namba station to Nipponbashi station.

Now for the exciting part. Arrived back in Fukushima around 9.45 decided to head to the bar that me and the boys went to last year. Totally forgot the bar was at the top floor and not the second. Walked into the second floor bar and I was like, wait a minute,what happened to the bar I knew. And why are there 5 chicks serving the counter? Turns out it was a snack I since the girl at the door invited me in, why the hell not.

Taked to the first girl, did introductions etc etc and turns out she stayed in Melbourne for 3 months last year! And her English is pretty good! I`m thinking the power that be must have planned this shit for me! Had and awesome time at the snack. The two ojiisan next to me were very fun to talk to. Nothing impresses Japanese like gaijin that speaks Japanese and knows a lot about Japanese entertainment. The only thing missing was karaoke which they had but there was only one screen in the middle of the bar and no one was really singing.

The boss of the place actually went to Sabah before. (its north of my hometown in Malaysia) Lots of interesting conversations including Hokuto no Ken, the customers and snack girls trying their English, Kyabakura and how Japanese entertainment is idol based. It is a joy to meet girls who are not fans of Johnnys or Korean dudes. Actually I was planning to not stay overnight in Osaka for a concert next week but after discovering this awesome snack, I`m tempted to stay overnight. Problem would be if I did a lot of shopping I would have to carry it all the way to Osaka and back to Tokyo.

English speaking girl is not working tomorrow unfortunately. There was a cute girl called Megumi (I think) who`s birthday was tomorrow. One cool dude next to me who`s name I have now forgotten gave her a shawl for a present. Should have stayed until midnight but I was shown the bill for 9000 yen after my second hour and thought that was what I owed them. Turns out its what I would have to pay for the third hour and I only had to pay 6000 yen. Why didn`t I say I would stay another hour! Fucking stupid idiot. And I should have asked whether I could take a picture!

Gah, will definitely fucking go back tomorrow. Too bad English speaking girl doesn`t yet know her work schedule for next week. If I decide to stay in Osaka Friday and Saturday next week, that would mean I have to leave all my shopping for Sunday. Hhhmm, I`ll see how much fun I have tomorrow. Question is do I go for more SF at Taito Namba or try Sega Joypolis? Need to find a nice snack to go to in Tokyo. I wonder if Iino would know any? I think instead of figures, I will be spending most of my money this trip on snacks, lol.

Sex Services in Japan First to Get Back to Business After Earthquake

Japan is slowly getting back to business. It's about time. When the government tells us that we shouldn't celebrate because of the March 11 disaster and that we should cancel festivals, Hanami and other drinking parties, that only serves to hurt local business and the economy.


The best thing any of us can do is to try to get our lives back to normal and get the economy going. We need to work, we need to sleep, we need to play.... I certainly need to go out drinking and enjoying life more. 


I can't imagine anyone else who doesn't need to go out and enjoy life more.


Well, hats off to the world's oldest profession. It seems that right after the Tohoku disaster,  sex- related  service industries were the first back to business. 


The excellent Tokyo Reporter has the story for us:

Even the horrifying death and devastation that struck northeastern Japan on March 11 could not suppress the human sex drive for long. Friday (June 10) reports that sex businesses were among the first to recover, many as soon as one week after the disaster.

“I was back at my job on March 18,” says Kitty-san, a 21-year-old employee of a delivery health (out-call sex service) service named Ainori in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. “From the day we reopened demand was even higher than it was before the disaster. Many customers had suffered from the catastrophe, and had even lost family members. They justified their urges, saying they ‘sought psychological relief’ or ‘wanted to be consoled.’

Gratuitous cheesecake photo #1

I suppose you could call it "Psychological relief" or "Consolation"....

“A lot of customers had been evacuated to temporary shelters where they couldn’t bathe, and just wanted to go to a hotel so they could get cleaned up,” Kitty continues. “One guy, who was about 35 years old, was pretty grubby. ‘I haven’t had a bath for two weeks’ he told me. He seemed so happy when I gave him a shampoo.”

So great was demand to use local hotel rooms with power and hot water, couples could even be seen queued up outside waiting their turn.

“I think our shop was the first one back in business after the quake,” says an employee of Ainori. “We couldn’t get through to the girls at first because cell phone communications had shut down. Afterwards we finally made contact. 

Prostitution and the free exchange of time and services between two consenting adults is a free market ideal and a business that's been around since the beginning of society. No amount of government legislation will ever change that. Making laws that makes these activities illegal is pure nonsense.

You cannot legislate morality.

I applaud these businesses for getting back on track early and creating jobs for people. The economy needs it.

Gratuitous cheesecake photo #2

See Feb 2012 Top Sexy Japanese Actresses and Models here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2012/02/photos-of-japans-top-sexy-actresses-and.html

Read more at the  Tokyo Reporter