Female Politicians in the News? Sign of the Times, If You Ask Me.
Diet couple splits up, screams the headline.
Money quote: They were never legally registered as a married couple, but acted as such.
What were they thinking of, pretending they were "legally" registered, when they were living in sin? Isn't that against the law, for heaven's sakes?
Kidding. The people at Asahi Shinbun were merely noting the fact that a respectable couple, a political one at that, had gone through all the rigmarole of marriage, including well-publicized but ultimately successful efforts to conceive children, had decided, no, they wouldn't file the papers. Punk'd, they were, the MSM, and not sure how to handle this piece of information.
The takeaway from this story? The most obvious is that it was Ms. Seiko Noda, who was often mentioned as top candidate for first female prime minister of Japan before the LDP kicked her out and sicced Ms. Assassin Yukari Sato on her (unsuccessfully) in last year's Lower House elections, who was the focus of media attention in the split, and not Mr. Yosuke Tsuruho. It's clear who wielded power in this power household. Second, and I think this is one that has so much social resonance, is that an unconventional arrangement – one we used to call naien kankei (not quite common-law relationship) and look down on, as something you expected from the rickshaw pullers and stable hands - has come and gone, and we seem to be accepting it all with aplomb.
We are a nation of conventions and customs, a deeply conservative people, scuttling back to our holes like crabs at the first hint of danger. Yet we will shed centuries-old traditions in an historical instant like some outgrown carapaces and amble along, as if nothing had happened at all. I used to claim that this was a profoundly Japanese trait, this mix of deep conservatism and radical metamorphoses. But I've lived long enough to realize that this is merely humanity itself in action, up to and including what many people think of as the yet another uniquely Japanese trait, the exceptionalism that manifests itself in such claims.
I expect a flurry of shukanshi attention to this matter, and then the world will move on.
Speaking of assassins, the boom finally came down on Mss. Yukari Sato and Satsuki Katayama, who were grounded for a year on the Japanese Archipelago for skipping a floor vote in the Lower House.
The punishment strikes The Cryptic as being somewhat odd, since the Aerodynamic Duo were not accused of modeling string bikinis in Saipan while their less well-downed colleagues (or more, if you think quantity trumps quality) toiled away in the corridors of Kokkai Gijidou. Still, the notion that overseas travel is a luxury, and not a necessary part of public service, for Diet members and thus can be revoked as punishment, appeals to this former bureaucrat. (I'll tell you why if you ask politely.)
There are so many ways you can go with this (It's kinda harsh, ain't it?), but let's just hope that this leads to a closer scrutiny of all those off-season overseas political junkets.
Money quote: They were never legally registered as a married couple, but acted as such.
What were they thinking of, pretending they were "legally" registered, when they were living in sin? Isn't that against the law, for heaven's sakes?
Kidding. The people at Asahi Shinbun were merely noting the fact that a respectable couple, a political one at that, had gone through all the rigmarole of marriage, including well-publicized but ultimately successful efforts to conceive children, had decided, no, they wouldn't file the papers. Punk'd, they were, the MSM, and not sure how to handle this piece of information.
The takeaway from this story? The most obvious is that it was Ms. Seiko Noda, who was often mentioned as top candidate for first female prime minister of Japan before the LDP kicked her out and sicced Ms. Assassin Yukari Sato on her (unsuccessfully) in last year's Lower House elections, who was the focus of media attention in the split, and not Mr. Yosuke Tsuruho. It's clear who wielded power in this power household. Second, and I think this is one that has so much social resonance, is that an unconventional arrangement – one we used to call naien kankei (not quite common-law relationship) and look down on, as something you expected from the rickshaw pullers and stable hands - has come and gone, and we seem to be accepting it all with aplomb.
We are a nation of conventions and customs, a deeply conservative people, scuttling back to our holes like crabs at the first hint of danger. Yet we will shed centuries-old traditions in an historical instant like some outgrown carapaces and amble along, as if nothing had happened at all. I used to claim that this was a profoundly Japanese trait, this mix of deep conservatism and radical metamorphoses. But I've lived long enough to realize that this is merely humanity itself in action, up to and including what many people think of as the yet another uniquely Japanese trait, the exceptionalism that manifests itself in such claims.
I expect a flurry of shukanshi attention to this matter, and then the world will move on.
Speaking of assassins, the boom finally came down on Mss. Yukari Sato and Satsuki Katayama, who were grounded for a year on the Japanese Archipelago for skipping a floor vote in the Lower House.
The punishment strikes The Cryptic as being somewhat odd, since the Aerodynamic Duo were not accused of modeling string bikinis in Saipan while their less well-downed colleagues (or more, if you think quantity trumps quality) toiled away in the corridors of Kokkai Gijidou. Still, the notion that overseas travel is a luxury, and not a necessary part of public service, for Diet members and thus can be revoked as punishment, appeals to this former bureaucrat. (I'll tell you why if you ask politely.)
There are so many ways you can go with this (It's kinda harsh, ain't it?), but let's just hope that this leads to a closer scrutiny of all those off-season overseas political junkets.
posted by Jun Okumura at 7:57 PM
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