Marginalia Japonica-Americana: Monkeys, Corruption
"Macaques' monkey business causing concern": Know what? I think we should donate them to the US of A. The state of Virginia for one needs more of them. Hey, we gave those guys cherry blossoms…
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "City workers with political clout claim to be injured at a rate that far exceeds any occupation tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor".
Meanwhile, in Japan, a small but persistent story has been running about a Nara municipal employee who pulled down a full salary for five years while showing up for a grand total of eight days during those years. He claimed illness, while tootling around the neighborhood in a pricey import auto. Today, on Oct. 27, he was finally dismissed. More than a couple of dozen other city employees, including the mayor, will be receiving lesser punishment for the oversight. One of the articles briefly mentioned in passing that he was an official of the Buraku Kaihou Doumei. The Socialist-affiliated Bukaidou, as it is commonly called, is one of the two pressure groups (Zenkairen is linked to the Communist Party) that claim to represent the interests of the former burakumin, the Japanese social analogue to the untouchable caste. One implication of this incident is that there remain sufficient grounds for these individuals to extort special treatment from fearful local governments. The other is that the media still fears to wade too deeply into these waters. Perhaps I should stop right here as well.
This talk of Chicago reminds me of a conversation I had with a Chicago Tribune correspondent, back in the early 90s when they still had a Tokyo bureau. We were talking about the widespread dango, i.e. collusion among contractors for public works in Japan. Under prodding, he admitted, yes, he saw a lot of corruption every day in Chicago, but the difference was that the aldermen, the contractors, they went to jail. Unlike Japan, was the implication. Well, the governor of Fukushima Prefecture has been arrested on charges of accepting bribes for steering public works contracts in return for money. Am I supposed to be proud of any of this or what?
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "City workers with political clout claim to be injured at a rate that far exceeds any occupation tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor".
Meanwhile, in Japan, a small but persistent story has been running about a Nara municipal employee who pulled down a full salary for five years while showing up for a grand total of eight days during those years. He claimed illness, while tootling around the neighborhood in a pricey import auto. Today, on Oct. 27, he was finally dismissed. More than a couple of dozen other city employees, including the mayor, will be receiving lesser punishment for the oversight. One of the articles briefly mentioned in passing that he was an official of the Buraku Kaihou Doumei. The Socialist-affiliated Bukaidou, as it is commonly called, is one of the two pressure groups (Zenkairen is linked to the Communist Party) that claim to represent the interests of the former burakumin, the Japanese social analogue to the untouchable caste. One implication of this incident is that there remain sufficient grounds for these individuals to extort special treatment from fearful local governments. The other is that the media still fears to wade too deeply into these waters. Perhaps I should stop right here as well.
This talk of Chicago reminds me of a conversation I had with a Chicago Tribune correspondent, back in the early 90s when they still had a Tokyo bureau. We were talking about the widespread dango, i.e. collusion among contractors for public works in Japan. Under prodding, he admitted, yes, he saw a lot of corruption every day in Chicago, but the difference was that the aldermen, the contractors, they went to jail. Unlike Japan, was the implication. Well, the governor of Fukushima Prefecture has been arrested on charges of accepting bribes for steering public works contracts in return for money. Am I supposed to be proud of any of this or what?
posted by Jun Okumura at 5:29 PM
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