In the news today
Campaigning for the Lower House election officially started today. The election is on Aug 30. Yesterday a debate among six party leaders took place at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, among them the ruling party leader and Prime Minister Aso, the strongest opposition party leader Hatoyama.
During the debate, Mr. Aso again made a Kanji reading error. He read 踏襲 as “fushu”, instead of the correct “toshu,” something that could be laughed at even by elementary school children. “Fushu” means the smell of corruption.
Democratic Party, the strongest opposition group, is leading in every recent poll. Hatoyama said during the debate that his party is willing to give voting rights to aliens in Japan. Personally I have no idea why he brought that up on this occasion, nor what good it will possibly do to his party in the election. Coincidentally (or not), a Korean old man who's lived in Japan for a long time committed a really gruesome crime on the same day. The abduction issue is nowhere near being solved. Grandchild of a former prime minister, Hatoyama is one of the richest politicians in Japan, with estimated assets of around eighty-four million dollars.
One party leader criticized Aso for the way he dissolved the Lower House, saying the law that allowed the long-overdue dissolution was a remnant of pre-democratic conventions and that it was just against democratic ways of doing politics. But despite the criticism, the timing of the dissolution couldn't be better for Aso's foes, as the poll figures suggest. Had he made the decision a little earlier, things might have been a bit different. Having said that, Democratic Party's victory is in no way a sure thing. At least just yet.
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During the debate, Mr. Aso again made a Kanji reading error. He read 踏襲 as “fushu”, instead of the correct “toshu,” something that could be laughed at even by elementary school children. “Fushu” means the smell of corruption.
Democratic Party, the strongest opposition group, is leading in every recent poll. Hatoyama said during the debate that his party is willing to give voting rights to aliens in Japan. Personally I have no idea why he brought that up on this occasion, nor what good it will possibly do to his party in the election. Coincidentally (or not), a Korean old man who's lived in Japan for a long time committed a really gruesome crime on the same day. The abduction issue is nowhere near being solved. Grandchild of a former prime minister, Hatoyama is one of the richest politicians in Japan, with estimated assets of around eighty-four million dollars.
One party leader criticized Aso for the way he dissolved the Lower House, saying the law that allowed the long-overdue dissolution was a remnant of pre-democratic conventions and that it was just against democratic ways of doing politics. But despite the criticism, the timing of the dissolution couldn't be better for Aso's foes, as the poll figures suggest. Had he made the decision a little earlier, things might have been a bit different. Having said that, Democratic Party's victory is in no way a sure thing. At least just yet.
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posted by Tanaka @ 4:00 PM
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