Exposing the “Vulgar” Deceptions of Modern Japan: Economy, Politics, Media, and the Human Heart
Mar 2, 2011
“Maggie’s Farm,” China-Style (Bob Dylan)
From this morning’s Asahi (Hangzhou, Zhejiang – by Atsushi Okudera).
…snip…
Employees serving the wealthy at exclusive clubs mostly come from inland rural areas. A 27-year-old man from the countryside, a Shanxi University graduate now working at a teahouse by West Lake, earns about 1,500 yuan a month.
“This society is far too unfair,” he laments.
The teahouse’s female owner tells staff, “Save 100 yuan a month and work hard—you’ll succeed.” She also runs a travel agency and two business hotels, earning 3–4 million yuan a year. Her relatives are village officials; the local Party secretary drops by nightly. “He really helped with procedures and introductions,” she admits. Knowing this, employees find her lectures hollow.
…snip…
At another club, “Garden Restaurant 1917,” staff said, “At minimum, please order abalone.” The top grade is from Japan. Banquets run at least 1,000 yuan per person—about a month’s minimum wage. When I asked if I could order dishes priced in the tens of yuan on the menu, I was told, “Let’s not—only leads to mutual unpleasantness.”
(Hangzhou, Zhejiang – by Atsushi Okudera; boldface mine)
120,000 residents, 27 city councilors!
NHK “News 9” revealed it. For over twenty years, 30,000-plus Tokyo-centric journalists never told us such jaw-dropping facts, preferring “vulgar” grandstanding and imbecile TV.
On “News 23,” I saw eight elderly people sleeping in a cramped 2DK flat, tended by a single young man. Some had been there for two months. They call it “overnight care.” Is this truly what a (then) No. 2 economic power looks like?
There are solutions (I’ll write them in the Apr 5 issue). Yet, numbed by press-club careers, pundits parroted “fiscal deficit” for 20 years, draining Japan’s vitality.
We imported the worst kind of indecency while moralizing—letting forms of assistance become a pretext for indecency to spread.
I watch the news daily; last night was the first time such reality was aired.
Capex is finally restarting, but over ¥100 trillion still sits idle at big firms (post-Lehman recovery incomplete). I propose: halve the bloated TV talent fees and redirect the savings—enough to provide decency in elder care.
Behind hypocritical talk shows and coarse comedy, a modern “dumping ground for the aged” proceeds openly. Would you accept old age in mixed rooms, beds crammed one tatami each?
For 20 years they cried “deficits, reconstruction,” warning Japan would collapse “any day now.” It didn’t. The pundits kept cashing in. What fools we followed.
The rich hoarded and offshored; the 90% grew timorous and chased only the cheapest goods. Our record-long deflation shares the same root as (snip). That’s why it’s vulgar.
Tiny reallocation, real effects
¥150 trillion idles in banks and flows into JGBs. Skim a sliver of the interest and house the abandoned elderly properly.
¥120 trillion in corporate cash: trim dividends slightly and do the same. Would shareholders truly say no? If even that “little” is rejected, what good is such capitalism? In truth, I suspect shares would rise. “Agreed,” says Lord Ieyasu.
The fiction of “money and politics”
On Maehara’s funding flap: in the real world, money gravitates to capability. The point is governing ability, not donation totals. As Naoki Komuro insisted, “Judging politicians by petit-bourgeois morality is a mistake!”
Media and the rarity of truth-tellers
Those who truly speak truth—or do Nobel-class work—are exceedingly rare. Having seen what imbecile TV has produced, today’s Japan is no mystery.
Mar 4, 2011
In countries with taboos, the establishment peddles cant; the people swallow it, lose philosophy, sink into pessimism. Cheap lyricism flourishes.
Raised on fluff and convinced “whoever’s on TV wins,” youths stake life on exams and Tokyo dreams. If reports of rising suicides among jobless youth are true, my diagnosis scores 100 out of 100.
I’ve lived the outsider’s life—and I’m happy. I look at the trees and sing:
“Who has seen the wind” (Yoko Ono)
Yes, there’s regret for a “fucking life” in pursuit of “fucking money.” But life is life without elite badges. The measure of a person is their heart.
Even with ¥5 million incomes, the greatest treasure is children:
“Silver and gold and jewels—none surpass the treasure of a child.”
Mar 5, 2011
A call from a megabank’s fine young clerk: “Read your blog. Kyoto again this weekend?” “Of course!”—Kitano Tenmangū is superb. The folder holds photos of Ryōsoku-in.
Takashi Fujimaki’s column (Shūkan Asahi): the U.S. is entering a strong cycle via wealth effects (snip).
Dialogue with Lord Ieyasu (Feb 13, Ryōsoku-in)
News shows are changing—especially TBS’s “News 23.” Once TV’s thoroughbred, TBS slipped in ratings during the age of imbecile TV; now it’s returning to original reporting.
Zen, governance, and restraint
We admired Hasegawa Tōhaku’s line, then reflected in the garden. I opposed turning tea ceremony into authority-worship; governance came first. I shunned official luxury—famously salting the Ōoku’s eggplants to curb rice consumption.
“Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and I learned from Zen, disciplined ourselves, and pondered governance. Our reflection ran deeper than that of today’s rulers,” says Ieyasu. “Indeed—and details in the newsletter.”
The three greats encourage me; I answer in tears, “Happiest moment of my life.”
Kikoku-Tei’s plum garden
Third visit in three months. A shrike greets me; koi gather. I have the grove to myself—masterpiece images secured.
Everyone in Japan should read my newsletter. At last, I’ll tackle our nation’s “essential illness.” As an unknown charging a fee, I must outdeliver its value each time. Hence the newsletter (Tuesdays, ¥840/month). If every PC clicked, Japan would change. The 21st century would truly begin.