2008年9月27日 星期六

Let's hope Japan's new wild ibises can survive

トキ



]] |科 = トキ科 |亜科 = トキ亜科 |属 = トキ属 ' |種 = トキ |学名 = Nipponia nippon |和名 = トキ(朱鷺、鴇)、
タウ、ツキ(鴾、?)(古)
ドウ(新潟・石川などの方言) |英名 = Crested ibis, Japanese crested ibis }}


トキ朱鷺、学名:' )はコウノトリ目トキ科の一種。東アジアに広く分布していたが、19世紀後半から20世紀前半にかけて激減した。現在では中国陝西省にのみ生息しており、中国と日本で人工繁殖が進められている。

独特な羽色の変化

『啓蒙禽譜』(作者不詳、1830~1840年代頃)より。非繁殖期の白い姿とは別に、繁殖期の姿を「脊黒トキ」の名で描いている。


Let's hope Japan's new wild ibises can survive

2008/9/27


The two kanji characters for toki, the Japanese crested ibis, mean "vermilion" and "heron." Whenever this bird is mentioned, I am reminded of the beauty of these characters and smile at the bird's delightfully simple scientific name--Nipponia nippon.

Combined with the atmosphere of the island of Sado, the last known habitat of the bird in Japan, I feel nostalgic when I recall images of these birds at rest or in flight.

One of the oldest references to the toki appears in "Nihon Shoki" (the chronicles of Japan), which was compiled in the eighth century. In the book, the Chinese characters by which the bird is identified stand for "pink," "flower" and "bird." Sadly, it was its beautiful, pale pink plumage that doomed this species. Overhunting caused the toki population to plummet after the Meiji Era (1868-1912). Urbanization worsened the situation. By the time people realized the bird needed protection, it was too late. The species became extinct in the wild in Japan in 2003.

On Thursday, however, 10 Japanese crested ibises were released to the wild in Sado in Niigata Prefecture. These birds were artificially bred, the offspring of birds born in China. Since all surviving Japanese-born ibises were taken into protective captivity in 1981, this was the first time in 27 years that a flock of flying toki could be seen in Japan.

A haiku by Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) goes: "Wild geese/ You are Japanese from today/ Sleep well." I wish I could give this same benediction to the just-released birds, but I understand that their living environment is now harsher than ever.

There are fewer rice paddies, which are their feeding grounds, and more roads cutting through the mountains. The deep snows of winter will soon cover the island in the Sea of Japan. Even experts are said to be unsure if these birds will be able to survive.

In 1960, the toki became only the 13th bird species to be named as internationally protected.

One of the people who fought hard for that designation was Godo Nakanishi, a Buddhist priest and writer who founded the Wild Bird Society of Japan in 1934. Nakanishi preached that protecting birds also required the preservation of mountains and rivers, and stated his philosophy of nature with his motto: "Let wild birds remain wild."

But Japan's wild crested ibises became extinct anyway, and their "cage-reared" descendants may not survive in the wild. This is the price humans have to pay for our failure to preserve the mountains and rivers.

The toki, with its gentle nature, is said to have no weapon for survival other than its timidity. I hope the day will come when Japanese crested ibises are once again part and parcel of the Sado scenery all year round.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 26(IHT/Asahi: September 27,2008)

Don't fool us with day-old fish

Don't fool us with day-old fish

2008/9/26


In 1977, Sadaharu Oh set a world home-run record while playing for the Yomiuri Giants. (Now the manager of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, Oh has just announced his retirement at the end of this season.)王貞治

In honor of his achievement, then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda established and presented Oh with the first People's Honor Award.

While cynics sneered at the award, calling it "an attempt by a Cabinet with a record-low approval rating to court public favor," I was impressed at the time by Fukuda's choice for the first recipient. Still, the award did nothing to bolster his administration's popularity. The following year, Fukuda resigned, saying, "Sometimes heaven speaks in a strange voice."

Decades later, his son Yasuo Fukuda became prime minister, but he, too, proved unpopular and stepped down on Wednesday. His parting shot, made in response to a reporter's question, was: "I am not like you."

Kabuki actor Onoe Kikugoro VI (1885-1949) once said actors with good exit lines make good actors. Perhaps Yasuo Fukuda would have made a better actor than a prime minister.

At the risk of sounding rude, when I look at the administration of our new prime minister, Taro Aso, I am reminded of the rakugo comic story "Sakura-dai" (cherry blossom sea bream).

In the story, a feudal lord is served a sea bream broiled with salt. He takes one bite and stops eating it, ordering a servant to bring a new one. But there are no more to be had, so the servant diverts the lord's attention to nearby cherry blossoms. While he is looking the other way, the servant flips the sea bream over to hide the spot left by his master's chopsticks and presents the fish as a new one.

Aso's Cabinet lineup looks suspiciously like the other side of a fish left out on the table overnight. Since it mostly includes ruling party members who were elected three years ago, it lacks freshness. Unless released into the sea of popular will and caught again, this fish will never transform itself into a fresh one.

On Wednesday, Aso described today's situation: "It is more like turbulent times than peacetime."

Everybody knows that neither ruling nor opposition parties have a magic potion that can solve all our problems immediately. Instead of sweet words, voters want to hear frank discussions using straight talk.

Which party can deliver that? The tide of popular will is rising.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 25(IHT/Asahi: September 26,2008)

Pet owners

Pet owners must care in more than just name

2008/9/25


Although the topic attracted scant attention, Sept. 13 was the centennial of a certain cat's death. Some readers may have guessed correctly. I am talking about the famous nameless cat that belonged to writer Natsume Soseki (1867-1916).

Of course, Soseki's celebrated work "Wagahai wa Neko de aru" (I Am a Cat) is a novel, but its feline narrator was based on a real cat. I heard that it was found dead in the morning on top of a furnace in a shed.

Soseki buried the pet in his yard and placed a haiku he had composed in its memory on a plain wooden grave marker: "Under here/ Lightning may strike/ One evening."

I don't know how many cats and dogs were kept during the late Meiji Era (1868-1912) but today, amid an unprecedented pet boom, more than 20 million are said to exist across Japan.

The pet market is said to be worth more than 1 trillion yen, making it a major industry.

But more pets means more animal deaths. I heard that pet funeral businesses also are on the rise.

Soseki simply had a favorite rickshaw operator bury his cat. A century later, companies that conduct not only funeral and cremation services for domestic animals but also provide care for people grieving for their pets have emerged. It is also proof that people are personifying their pets and treating them as partners.

When it comes to such behavior, Soseki was a pioneer. Although people tend to think he was a cat lover, it seems this was not necessarily the case.

This is also apparent from the following complaint voiced by the cat in the novel: "How little I have been respected is also clear from the fact that I have not even been named to this day."

The real cat kept by Soseki also died without a name. Perhaps it was Soseki's style not to get too close or too distant.

While the pet industry is booming, some people also abandon their animals as easily as they take off their wrist watch.

As a human, I feel ashamed of the selfishness of the owners when I think of the countless cats and dogs that are sent to gas chambers.

Now is "Be Kind to Animals Week."

At this time, I feel as though I can hear the lightning caused by nameless cats and their angry cries from beneath the ground.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 24(IHT/Asahi: September 25,2008)

2008年9月24日 星期三

麻生新内閣

いろあい ―あひ 0 【色合(い)】

(1)染め・塗りなどの色の具合。色の調子。
(2)物事の感じ・傾向。
来年度からは会の―を変える」「混戦の―を深める」
(3)顔色。
「―、あまりなるまで匂ひて、物々しくけ高き顔の/源氏(宿木)」

麻生新内閣:小渕氏、戦後最年少大臣に

自ら閣僚名薄を発表し、就任会見する麻生太郎首相=首相官邸で2008年9月24日午後6時53分、岩下幸一郎撮影
自ら閣僚名薄を発表し、就任会見する麻生太郎首相=首相官邸で2008年9月24日午後6時53分、岩下幸一郎撮影

 自民党の麻生太郎総裁(68)は24日夕、国会で第92代の首相に指名された。ただちに組閣を行い、24日夜、皇居での首相任命式、閣僚の認証式 を経て新内閣を発足。与党が早期の衆院解散・総選挙を想定する中、鳩山邦夫総務相(60)、中川昭一財務・金融担当相(55)ら親しい議員を重用する布陣 となった。閣僚名簿も首相自ら発表する極めて異例の対応で、衆院選に向け首相の「一枚看板」ぶりを演出。当面は補正予算案審議への民主党の対応をにらみつ つ衆院の解散時期を探ることになり、「選挙管理内閣」の色合いが濃いスタートとなった。

 麻生氏は24日夜の記者会見で、補正予算の成立に改めて意欲を示す一方で、衆院解散・総選挙の時期について「(補正予算案の)審議に民主党が応じてくれるか否かも踏まえて考えたい」と語り、早期の解散を否定しなかった。

 自民党は10月3日に衆院を解散し、同月26日投開票の方向で調整に入っていたが、野党側が補正予算審議に応じた場合、衆院選の投開票が11月2日か9日にずれ込みそうだ。

 ただ、民主党は補正予算案への賛否は明らかにしておらず、首相は民主党の出方や内閣支持率など世論の動向も見極めながら解散時期を探ることになる。

 麻生内閣の17閣僚のうち、総裁選で麻生陣営の選対本部長を務めた鳩山氏や、中川氏、河村建夫官房長官(65)、甘利明行革担当相(59)ら7閣 僚は首相と以前から親しい関係にある。総裁選で戦った与謝野馨経済財政担当相(70)を再任、石破茂氏(51)を農相に起用する一方で、党内第3派閥の古 賀派からは1人しか入閣しなかった。党内バランスよりも、首相との個人的関係を重視した布陣となった。また、小渕優子少子化担当相(34)は戦後最年少の 閣僚で、衆院選を意識した人事とも言えそうだ。民間からの起用はゼロとなった。

 首相指名選挙はまず衆院本会議で行われ、麻生氏が337票(自民302、公明31、無所属4)を獲得して指名された。続く参院本会議では1回目の 投票では誰も半数を超えず、上位2人による決選投票で民主党の小沢一郎代表が125票、麻生氏が108票で、小沢氏が指名された。両院で議決が異なったこ とから両院協議会を経て、首相指名で衆院の優越を定めた憲法の規定により麻生氏が首相に決まった。【高塚保】

◇麻生内閣の顔ぶれ(敬称略)

 ▽総理 麻生太郎(衆)

 ▽総務 鳩山邦夫(衆)

 ▽法務 森英介(衆)

 ▽外務 中曽根弘文(参)

 ▽財務・金融 中川昭一(衆)

 ▽文部科学 塩谷立(衆)

 ▽厚生労働 舛添要一(参)

 ▽農水 石破茂(衆)

 ▽経済産業 二階俊博(衆)

 ▽国土交通 中山成彬(衆)

 ▽環境 斉藤鉄夫(衆)

 ▽防衛 浜田靖一(衆)

 ▽内閣官房 河村建夫(衆)

 ▽国家公安 佐藤勉(衆)

 ▽行政改革 甘利明(衆)

 ▽経済財政 与謝野馨(衆)

 ▽消費者行政 野田聖子(衆)

 ▽少子化 小渕優子(衆)

2008年9月22日 星期一

At 81, Japanese vet makes rare return to Iwo Jima

IWO JIMA, Japan: The tunnels of Iwo Jima snake deep beneath the volcanic rock and soil, their entrances camouflaged by a dense tangle of vines and tall grasses.

In their stifling heat, Tsuruji Akikusa suffered months of hunger and thirst. The bodies of dead comrades lay around him. His closest buddy blew himself up with a grenade rather than surrender.

Finally, Akikusa was the only one left alive in his cave.

In May 1945, he says, U.S. troops found him wounded, unconscious and dehydrated. Out of 21,000 Japanese defenders of Iwo Jima, only about 1,000 had survived.

Akikusa, now 81, relived those horrors this month when he stepped foot for the first time since the war on Iwo's black volcanic beaches, flown to the island for a U.S. Army-produced documentary on his life.

"Our commander told us we were going to Hell Island, not Iwo Island," Akikusa recalled, looking out over the waves where the U.S. Marines stormed ashore on Feb. 19, 1945. "We figured this was a place we would never return home from."

Not many did. And today, as old age catches up with the last survivors, only about 20 Iwo Jima vets are still alive in Japan.

Presumed dead by his family, Akikusa came home to find his own funeral in progress. Then he plunged into the hard work and growing prosperity of postwar Japan — became an electrician, married, had a child.

But he never forgot Iwo Jima, and he never forgot his buddy, Yasuo Kumakura. And when Akikusa finally returned 63 years later, he found an island where the terror of the past remains frozen in time.

___

Iwo Jima holds an honored place in the history of World War II in the Pacific, alongside the other titanic clashes of men, machine and weaponry at Guadalcanal and Leyte, Midway and Okinawa.

The desolate eight-square-mile (20.7-square-kilometers) island was the first major battlefield on Japanese territory, a fight of unbridled ferocity between U.S. Marines determined to win at any cost, and dug-in Japanese forces just as determined to fight to the last man.

The bloodletting was unprecedented. Over the course of about five weeks, from Feb. 19 until March 26, some 27,000 men were killed on a spit of semi-denuded land roughly a third of the size of Manhattan.

The Japanese vow to kill 10 Americans for every one Imperial soldier took a lethal toll: Allied forces suffered almost 28,000 casualties, nearly 7,000 of them killed.

Today, the Japanese military keeps a base and airstrip on the islet and considers it a massive open tomb. Visits are tightly restricted. The only access is by U.S. or Japanese military flights.

The remains of the 1945 battle are everywhere.

A rusted American tank lies immobilized in the ditch where it fell decades ago, its hatches yawning open. A memorial atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima's volcanic peak, marks the spot where the Americans raised the Stars and Stripes — an image immortalized by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal. The tunnels, heated like ovens by the island's volcanic stirrings, are littered with helmets, cracked sake bottles, gas masks.

For the Japanese, who considered death in battle a supreme duty, the death toll remains something of a puzzle.

Of the estimated 1,000 survivors, Japanese records show only a little over 200 were taken prisoner by U.S. forces — meaning the fate of the other 800 has not been clearly established. Some speculate that Japanese returned home in silence, shamed by their survival; others suspect the calculations are faulty.

And the island is still the site of a peaceful struggle — over the ownership of its history.

After director Clint Eastwood released his two epic films about the battle in 2006, former residents of the island successfully pushed to restore its prewar name, "Iwo To." It's a minor change, but to some Japanese, it reasserts their sovereignty over a spit of land where so many perished.

___

That Akikusa survived such a hell hole is remarkable enough. But his story — which he detailed in a 2006 book, "Seventeen Years Old at Iwo To" — is a string of extraordinary coincidences and near-misses with death.

His march to Iwo Jima — or "Sulphur Island" — started in November 1942, when he entered the Japanese Imperial Navy Signal School. His studies concluded, he went to war, landing as a signalman on the northern side of Iwo Jima on July 30, 1944. He was just 17.

The expectations on board the boat carrying him to the island were grim. The men knew the Japanese war machine was faltering, and the focus was shifting from domination of Asia to forestalling an Allied assault on the mainland. Lying midway between the Marianas and Tokyo, Iwo Jima was a leading candidate for a U.S. landing.

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It didn't take long for Akikusa to find out what that meant on the ground: A U.S. plane strafed his boat on arrival. He dodged the bullets and ran for the hills, wandering alone for a day before finding his post.

The air raids grew more frequent, eventually raging round-the-clock as invasion day approached. Akikusa monitored it all from his post on the plateau on the northern half of the island.

When the Americans finally landed, Akikusa couldn't believe his eyes.

"All along this beach, there were thousands of Marines," he said, gazing out to sea. "Everywhere you looked, for 360 degrees, there were U.S. Navy ships."

From his perch, Akikusa could see a distant U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on the southern end of the island.

Here however, his account varies from the standard narrative. According to Akikusa, control of the mountain alternated for several days between the Americans and the Japanese — a battle he monitored by noting the swapping of flags: the U.S. flag one day, the Japanese the next.

At one point, Akikusa says he saw a Japanese flag that appeared to be made of a white shirt, with the rising sun painted with what he speculated was the soldiers' own blood.

"I thought, our guys are really struggling," he said.

Then, in early March, Akikusa was knocked down by a shell fired from offshore. Wounded in his hand and leg — he lost three fingertips — he straggled from tunnel to tunnel for months, sometimes with other soldiers, sometimes alone, living off bugs, rainwater and food pilfered from American supplies.

Later he found a tunnel where, in the hellish, volcano-fueled heat, he sheltered with Kumakura. But as U.S. soldiers approached, his buddy detonated a grenade, choosing death over capture.

After that, Akikusa's recollections fade.

"I didn't eat or drink," he said, "and then I don't remember anything."

___

When he woke up, he was out of the war, a POW in a U.S. military hospital in Guam. Over the next six months, he was shuttled among various camps in Hawaii and then Washington state, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Meanwhile, his hometown mourned his death.

In the confusion of the war's end, the Japanese military bureaucracy assumed that everyone on Iwo Jima had died, and sent what remains they could find to the bereaved families.

So while Akikusa recuperated in the U.S., his hometown in central Japan prepared his funeral. His parents refused to participate: a fortuneteller had told them their son was alive.

Still, his family was aghast when in January 1946, Akikusa appeared at the front door — while his funeral was taking place with those of a host of fallen soldiers at the local elementary school.

"They were speechless," he remembers. "Then they sent me to my own funeral, and I had to take my name down from among the dead."

Today he owns a company that fixes equipment at schools and businesses, and has often dreamed of returning to Iwo Jima to pay his respects.

His book paved the way. His writings caught the attention of the U.S. military, which flew him to Iwo Jima on an Army jet for a day of filming. (The documentary is for in-house purposes and there are no plans to make it public.)

Akikusa approached his confrontation in the calm, studied manner of a tourist. He napped during the flight, then filmed through the window as the plane landed.

Once on the tarmac, he held forth on the changes in vegetation — more lush now than in 1945 — and the weather, less hot than what he remembered as a 17-year-old.

But it was clear he had an overriding goal: to find his final cave and bid a proper farewell to Kumakura. Ferried around the island on a Japanese military minibus, he toured several caves, without success.

Then the bus stopped at one last possibility: a tiny, overgrown hillock near a runway. Akikusa got out and peered through the foliage at the opening of the tunnel, asked his guide questions about the location.

Then he lost his breath.

"Oh, this is it! It's the north entrance," he gasped, choking back tears as he pointed into the leaf-shrouded darkness. "Kumakura's in there, Kumakura's in there!"

He looked up at a fellow visitor.

"I was the last one," he said.

He pressed his hands together and murmured a prayer for his lost friend — then he pushed his fit and nimble body through the foliage and crouched in the hole, disappearing for a few seconds in the darkness where he and Kumakura endured hell.

Later, as the plane flew him back to Tokyo, he mused about having greeted Kumakura's spirit.

"I'm happy we got to meet again," he said. "I told him: 'Now we have peace.'"

2008年9月20日 星期六

In Japan, Financial Crisis Is Just a Ripple

80年代起 美國多想學日本
90年代 日本的泡沫經濟險象環生
現在美國財經大災難
不過日本則 "老神在在"
不動如山
這利弊互見

In Japan, Financial Crisis Is Just a Ripple


Published: September 19, 2008

TOKYO — Wall Street may be suffering the worst financial storm since the Great Depression, but Japan has felt like an island of Zen-like calm.

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Issei Kato/Reuters

Trading data posted in Tokyo on Friday. “The financial crisis looks like fire on a distant shore,” a Japanese economist said.

The world’s second-largest economy has often seemed to be marching to its own drummer, sometimes to Japan’s own disadvantage. But rarely has the disconnect been as stark as during the current financial crisis.

While European and American financial titans have teetered and collapsed, Japan’s giant banking groups have stood relatively unscathed. The growing global credit crisis, which threatens companies and consumers elsewhere, has yet to appear here, where the problem for years has been that the nation’s banks have too much cash, not too little. And while the United States Federal Reserve seems to be shoring up the entire American financial sector, the last time this central bank intervened in markets, it did so in dollars instead of yen — to help international markets.

Indeed, television news gives the current upheaval, known here as “Lehman Shock,” less coverage than more domestic issues like an approaching typhoon and a scandal over tainted rice. Even in the race for prime minister, the financial crisis has emerged as just one of a dozen issues and usually not the top one.

To be sure, Japan has been affected by the global economic downturn, with its economy threatened by recession. And its stock market gyrated and declined this week. But in an era dominated by globalization, where seemingly unrelated events can affect the lives of people half a world away, Tokyo has so far floated above the anguish gripping New York and London.

“The financial crisis looks like fire on a distant shore,” said Atsushi Nakajima, chief economist at the research arm of Mizuho Financial Group. “Japan has remained very calm and peaceful.”

Part of the reason is that Japan has already suffered its agonizing crisis. The 1980s bubble economy collapsed in the 1990s because banks were burdened with real estate-related bad loans, not unlike those that Washington is moving to have the American government take over from banks.

In Japan, it took a “lost decade” to work through those debts. The Japanese became very cautious after the bitter experience of the cleanup. One result was that they seem to have largely avoided the risky subprime loans that set off the current crisis. According to the International Monetary Fund, subprime-related losses at Japanese financial companies have totaled just $8 billion, out of global subprime-related losses that some say could total $1 trillion.

“Japan learned its lesson in the 1990s,” said Akio Makabe, an economics professor at Shinshu University. “It was wise when Wall Street was foolish.”

Of course, Wall Street’s pains have been felt here. The stock market fell this week in volatile trading, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index losing 2.4 percent — largely as panicked foreign investors dumped shares. There are also bigger fears that slowdowns in the United States and China will end up hammering Japan’s export-driven manufacturing sector.

There have also been small but telltale signs of rising risk aversion in credit markets. Japanese banks raised short-term interbank lending rates to foreign banks to 0.7 percent, from 0.5 percent, though they still use the lower rate among themselves. That contrasts with New York, where a benchmark interbank lending rate has tripled in recent days to about 3 percent.

Still, its relative detachment makes Japan an oddity in a world where globalization has seemed inevitable. Countries in Europe have also tried to find ways to be part of the global economy while staying apart from it, but to no avail. Other nations, like China, have bet their future on becoming enmeshed in it.

Japan’s aloofness has its downside. For example, with its healthy banking system and abundance of capital, Japan would seem in an ideal position to help bail out the shell-shocked global economy, stepping in for the weakened United States and Europe. Instead, Tokyo has kept a low profile throughout the crisis, other than joining a multinational effort by central banks to pump dollars into the global economy to keep it moving.

When asked during a prime minister candidate debate on Friday whether Japan could assert more leadership during the crisis, the leading candidate, Taro Aso, a former foreign minister, said he was “proud that Japan was not involved in that money game,” referring to mortgage debt.

Economists and bankers say Japan is able to keep itself apart for a very simple reason: it has enough cash to finance its own needs.

The country sits on a $14 trillion pile of household savings, the product of decades of trade surpluses and frugal lifestyles. This has allowed Japan to finance its immense $8.1 trillion fiscal deficit and still have enough money left over to be the world’s largest creditor nation for the last 17 years.

Last year, the nation’s net overseas assets — the sum of all Japanese investments abroad, minus what foreigners hold in Japan — reached a record 250 trillion yen, or $2.4 trillion.

That means that Japan’s domestic economy has been largely insulated from global credit market turmoil because it does not borrow from those markets. At the same time, with so much money flowing out — usually into safer investments like Treasuries — stability in the United States clearly matters.

Still, Japan’s corporate coffers are filled with cash from the nation’s long economic recovery in the 2000s after the stagnant 1990s.

“Japan is clearly in a different place” from the rest of the world, said John Richards, head of Asia research at the Royal Bank of Scotland. “It doesn’t need money.”

This blessing has also been a curse to investors, say economists. Its wealth shields Japan from pressures to meet global standards of growth or corporate profitability. This is what allowed the nation to accept near zero growth rates in the 1990s and what permits the survival of Japanese corporate practices like valuing employees and clients over shareholders.

Japan's farm minister resigns in rice scare

'日本農林水產大臣太田誠一昨天才在國會正式為毒米事件向國民道歉,今天突然宣布引咎辭職,讓已經搖搖欲墜的福田內閣增添新的變數。

太田誠一昨天因被追究毒米責任首度在國會道歉,今天上午在開完內閣會議後,他以督導不周向首相福田康夫請辭以示負責。福田立即接受,並決定由內閣官房長官町村信孝兼任農水大臣,暫不指派新人。

大阪加工米公司「三笠食品」將自中國進口、驗出致癌物黃麴毒素和達馬松的工業用米當成食用米轉售。"


Japan's farm minister resigns in rice scare

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's farm minister resigned Friday in a spiralling scare over pesticide-laced rice, which was served to hospital patients and schoolchildren and led to thousands of recalls.

Seiichi Ota quit just days before he would be out of a job anyway due to the resignation of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, whose government's approval rating stands at rock-bottom.

"In consideration of the large social impact that the tainted rice has had, I have resolved to resign as farm minister," Ota said at a press conference.

The resignation "will show who is responsible," said Ota, declaring responsibility for failing to address the public's concerns.

The scandal emerged when Osaka-based company Mikasa Foods earlier this month admitted to selling imported pesticide-tainted rice to snack makers and ordering company employees to go ahead with the sales.

Public anxiety heightened as hundreds of food companies including major breweries were hit by the scandal and the rice was also distributed to hospitals and schools.

Ota, known for his outspoken remarks, had been under fire for comments suggesting that he was reluctant to handle the situation.

The reselling of the tainted rice "does not have any impact on health. That is why I am not really making a big deal out of it," he said when the scandal emerged, causing uproar among consumers and lawmakers.

Last month he said Japanese consumers were too "fussy" over food safety.

Ahead of Ota's resignation, the farm ministry's number two had also quit, assuming responsibility for mishandling the food scandal.

"The government is regretful and sorry that this issue has increased people's worries over food safety," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, who will serve as acting farm minister for government's final days.

Machimura -- who has said he unknowingly drank liquor with the tainted rice -- promised that the government was "making its utmost efforts" to address the scare.

Senior opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama said that the resignation came too late.

"He should have quit sooner," Hatoyama told reporters. "And the one who appointed a person like him should be held responsible too."

The opposition is hopeful it can oust the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955, in the next elections.

The Liberal Democrats meet on Monday to pick Fukuda's successor, with conservative stalwart Taro Aso seen as the front-runner. The next premier is expected to take office on Wednesday.

Japan imported the rice in the scandal from China, Vietnam and other countries under its international commitment to open its tightly protected agricultural market.

Authorities set aside rice that was contaminated but sold it to companies for industrial use, such as making glue. Mikasa Foods admitted it passed the rice off as edible to cash in on the huge price difference.

Farm minister is a coveted position in Japanese politics but holders of the post have been a bete noire for the prime minister.

Fukuda's predecessor Shinzo Abe went through four farm ministers including one who hanged himself as a probe loomed into dirty money allegations. Two other farm ministers under Abe left office over financial wrongdoing.

2008年9月16日 星期二

Growing scandal over tainted rice

EDITORIAL: Growing scandal over tainted rice

2008/9/15


We wonder just how far the scandal over tainted rice will spread, following new shocking revelations about its usage. It turns out that tainted rice, which was intended for industrial glue and other products, was used for festive red rice, or rice with red beans, to be served as part of hot meals in hospitals, special nursing homes for the elderly, and nursery schools.

Thus, tainted rice was consumed not only in the form of shochu liquor or sake rice wine and confectionaries. Many people ended up eating rice that was unfit for human consumption. In some nursery schools and other facilities, the amount of pesticide detected in leftovers was above the legal limit.

The tainted rice was widely distributed to numerous manufacturers; apart from Mikasa Foods Co., the central entity in the scandal, two other companies had been using the imported rice for resale. The alcohol beverage makers and confectionary companies using the problem rice are now rushing to recall their products from shop shelves around the country.

It's a given in a business that sells food products that the merchandise is safe. But this basic principle seems to have been abandoned. What is the reason for this? Japan is hardly in a position to criticize any other country for its lack of food safety.

Yet, the response from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries suggests it does not grasp the gravity of the situation. The ministry is reluctant to disclose the names of the recipients of the tainted rice. As a rule, it does not release the names of companies that are unwilling to court such publicity. The ministry has also remained silent about the names of hospitals where patients and staff members ate tainted rice. The farm ministry asserts that food safety is the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and that it does not have any power over the matter.

The farm ministry is probably concerned about the damage that disclosure will do to the businesses. But consumer anxiety will only grow if the public remains in the dark about how the tainted rice was distributed. Consumer anxiety will only result in damaging the industry even further.

Before anything else, the farm ministry is also to blame for having allowed the diversion of tainted rice at the outset. Most of the tainted rice was imported and sold by the ministry to private companies. They then sold rice that had become moldy during storage, or because the consignment contained too much pesticide. For the ministry, companies that would purchase such rice for "industrial" use were welcome customers.

The ministry could not see through the fabrications of those companies that sold the tainted rice. We cannot help but suspect this scandal was due in part to the fact that the ministry and the companies maintained overly cozy relations with each other.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda instructed farm minister Seiichi Ota to track down the distribution routes. However, we believe this matter should not be left solely in the hands of the farm ministry. The government must ensure that Seiko Noda, minister of consumer policy, becomes the focal point of all related information so as to establish full cooperation and collaboration with the health ministry as well as with local governments, and use all its resources to get to the root of the matter.

Just because the prime minister has abandoned his post, it does not mean that the government can just close up shop. Although no actual cases of health problems have been reported yet, the public's well-being is at stake. We urge the government to resolve the confusion as soon as possible, by hurrying to clarify the entire distribution route, and by putting together measures to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 13(IHT/Asahi: September 15,2008)

2008年9月12日 星期五

魅力的な日本文化


魅力的な日本文化 茶―花展=文協ビルで6、7日開催=「芦屋釜」再現した山本氏講演も

 「魅力的な日本文化 茶―花展」が六、七両日午前十時から文協ビル(R.Sao Joaquim,381)で開かれる。裏千家ブラジルセンターとブラジル日本移民百周年記念協会、ブラジル日本文化福祉協会の共催。伝統的な生け花や茶道 から、ポップカルチャーといわれる漫画やアニメに至るまで、幅広く日本文化が紹介される。
 期間中は文協ビル全体を使い、展示や講演、映画上映、茶の席、点心席、生け花や書道のデモンストレーション、ミニ工芸バザー、漫画図書館など様々な催しを予定。
 さらに、約四百年も鋳造が途絶えていた幻の釜といわれる「芦屋釜」を、十余年の歳月をかけ再現した山本ケイ仙(けいせん)氏(73)を日本から迎え、「日本における鉄文化」講演も予定している。
 茶の湯の栄えた室町時代から珍重されていた「芦屋釜」は芦屋浜の砂鉄でできており、錆びることはない。山本氏は和銑(わくず)を使って再現。持参した芦屋釜の展示もされる。
 入場は一部を除き無料。問い合わせは、裏千家ブラジルセンター(電話=11・3208・5485)まで。


「日本文化の特質」=1千部を再版

 裏千家ブラジルセンターは、同展に合わせ百周年協会、文協と共同で六月に出版した「日本文化の特質」を一千部再版する。すでに一千部を販売している。
 表紙デザインは画家の若林和男氏(神戸出身)。
 第一章では、元サンパウロ大学日本文学講座主任教授の脇坂ジェニ氏の「日本人の季節感」や、松柏学園校長の川村真倫子氏の「大和心」など、十七人が様々な視点から日本文化を紹介。
 第二・三章では、茶の湯と生け花の特質や歴史が年表と一緒に紹介されている。「茶の湯、生け花など日本文化とは何かが、この一冊で分かって頂けると思います」と来社した松原宗実さんは話す。
 同展で販売。全カラー九十四ページ。日ポ両国語。

Last silence of Fukuda's term

Mr. Fukuda, your term of office is not yet over

2008/9/11


Zeami (ca 1363-1443), an actor and playwright who established Noh as a theatrical art, wrote "Kakyo" (The Mirror of the Flower), a critical treatise about the secrets of Noh. In this work, he referred to the phrase riken no ken, which translates as looking at oneself from a distance.

Zeami used the phrase to stress the importance of Noh actors cultivating a sense of detachment, so they can calmly observe their performance from the spectators' point of view.

When he announced his decision to resign on Sept. 1, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said to a reporter defiantly, "I can look at myself objectively. I am not like you."

Those words made me think he might make a good Noh actor.

For a week after that news conference, the prime minister refused to hold regular short interviews with the reporters who thronged his office. If he can look at himself objectively, I wonder how he viewed his own silence.

By refusing to meet reporters, the prime minister denied himself the opportunity to speak publicly. On Monday, he finally appeared before the media and explained the reason for his silence. "The political situation must not be influenced (by what I say)," he said.

My interpretation of those words is that by "the political situation," Fukuda was really referring more or less to the current political game.

His words suggest that he is more concerned about preserving "an environment beneficial to his party's interests" than he is with what is best for the people.

Maybe he doesn't want to be seen as resigning because he had an ax to grind.

But he must not forget that right now, he is still the prime minister. It would be terrible for the nation if he thought that whatever happens after he quits is no concern of his.

Last year, when Fukuda was elected LDP president, I quoted the following verse from "Fushi Kaden" (The Flowering Spirit: Classic Teachings on the Art of No), another treatise by Zeami: "You must not pass down secrets of art to incompetent persons, even if they are your heirs." I also wrote of my concerns about the aspirations and attitudes toward responsibility of the second- and third-generation politicians on the rise. A year later, it seems my fears were proved true.

There is a saying: "It is pitch dark one inch ahead." That does not apply only to the political world. Natural disasters, economic unrest or international problems can strike at any time. In life, we never know what may happen tomorrow. Instead of all the fuss about who will be chosen as his successor, the least the prime minister can do is gird his loins and fulfill his duties to the end.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 10(IHT/Asahi: September 11,2008)

火付け役の ASUSTek

台湾】富士通の Netbook、「FIC(大衆電脳)」が生産か
インターネットコム
市場では富士通が11月にも発売を予定している低価格ノート PC、「Netbook」の生産が、台湾の FIC(大衆電脳)に委託されたと伝わっている。こうした噂に対して台湾富士通はコメントを控えている。 Netbook 市場には現在、火付け役の ASUSTek の ...

ひつけやく 火付け役

a troublemaker.

ひつけ-やく 0 【火付け役】

事件や論議、また改革のきっかけを作る役目を演ずる人。
「彼が論争の―だ」




Misty air in Japan

In his masterpiece "Fudo" (Climate and Culture: A Philosophical Study), philosopher Tetsuro Watsuji (1889-1960) wrote that an aversion to persistence is a Japanese virtue.
和辻哲郎(1889-1960)是日本近现代历史上著名的思想家、文化哲学家和伦理学家.<风土> 是他的代表作之一,其中的核心观点是"风土文化论".本文主要从主客观两个角度分析了" ...

Misty air that blurs the senses clearing at last

2008/9/10

Philosopher Tetsuro Watsuji (1889-1960), to whom I recently referred in this column, once described "humidity" as an important characteristic of Japan's climate. Misty mornings, foggy evenings and trailing haze--all the result of moisture density changes in the air--are strongly tied to Japanese emotions, he thought.

Take, for instance, a river boat emerging from the mist, or a pale moon shining dimly through a veil of thin clouds. Mistiness blurring the outline of objects has long struck the heartstrings of the Japanese with the changing seasons.

Still, there is nothing romantic about humidity when it is hot. These past few days, a humid air mass passed over the archipelago. In particular, areas from the Kanto region and westward were sweltering. Moist may sound nice, but sweaty is unpleasant.

Since Monday, however, the atmospheric situation has changed. A high pressure system from the Asian continent has brought dry air. While there are still places where the daytime highs are exceeding 30 degrees, it is cool in the shade. Even the sky looks clearer now.

"The sky where summer and autumn pass each other/ A cool breeze may be blowing on one side" is a waka poem in the anthology Kokin Wakashu, which dates back to the early 10th century.

The term yukiai no sora describes the sky where two seasons cross. People in ancient times who had no choice but to endure the heat alone must have looked forward to that day when fall chases summer away.

The Buddhist monk Yoshida Kenko, who wrote his classic "Tsurezuregusa" (Essays in Idleness) in the early 14th century, saw the flow of all creation in the changing seasons.

"It does not turn to summer after spring has closed, nor does the fall come when the summer ends. The spring ahead of time puts on a summer air, already in the summer the fall is abroad." (This translation is by George B. Sansom.)

Likewise, Kenko presented the philosophical view that death is already lurking in life.

Turning my eyes to the political world, I see the Liberal Democratic Party and Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) crossing each other. Will summer survive or will it be beaten by the fall? The parties are facing a decisive battle.

As for the sumo world, it is not a pleasant autumn breeze that is blowing--it's a raging storm. The situation is serious. This time, the usual trick of veiling responsibility in a blurry mist didn't work.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 9(IHT/Asahi: September 10,2008)

2008年9月10日 星期三

Japanese voters tired of their banana republic politicians

Japanese voters have finally tired of their banana republic politicians


By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 10/09/2008

Have your say Read comments

Japan's forthcoming election could force its ruling party from power for only the second time in more than 50 years. The question many Japanese are asking is: Why has it taken so long?

The Liberal Democratic Party seems certain to lose its majority in the Lower House, matching its 2007 defeat in the Upper House, when the country goes to the polls on November 9.

Defeat would be a body blow to the LDP, a political machine that has ruled Japan for all but 10 months since it first formed a government in 1955. Imagine in Britain if the Conservatives had been in power since Anthony Eden became prime minister.

Yet with a revolving-door policy on its leaders, an apparent inability to deal with the country's economic malaise and a deep and growing distrust among the public, why are many still not counting out the LDP? Does its hold on power make Japan more akin to a banana republic than the world's second largest economy?

  • Coverage of the latest national, regional and world news about Japan
  • The resignation of prime minister Yasuo Fukuda on September 1, which triggered the latest leadership race, led by Taro Aso, follows the pattern of administrations lasting about a year. The only leader to buck that trend was Junichiro Koizumi, who held on for five and a half years.

    But, said Steven Reed, a professor of Japanese politics at Chuo University, that only shows how unpopular the party had become. Koizumi relentlessly attacked his own party. His economic reforms were painful to big business and therefore agonising to the LDP's old boy network, who relied on the largesse of companies, particularly in the construction sector, to fund their election campaigns.

    "If you look at the election results, it is clear that Koizumi was only popular with the voters when he was actually tackling the LDP itself, the factions that opposed his efforts to get a grip on the economy," said Prof Reed.

    Koizumi did just that with the privatisation of Japan Post, which gave the people a stake for the first time in the state-owned banking, insurance and postal service, to the fury of the bureaucrats and businessmen who had grown rich from it.

    He won a stunning election victory shortly afterwards and a year later, in 2006, handed over to his successor, confident that he had remoulded the LDP into a free market movement more responsive to the people.

    But Shinzo Abe, and then Fukuda, proved bitter disappointments to the reformers, and the old guard reasserted control.

    The turnaround has pleased the business community, and America, whose priority is to keep a traditionally minded LDP government in Tokyo as a bulwark against the increasingly militarised - and not necessarily friendly - nations in north-east Asia. China has been flexing its military muscles with double-digit growth in defence spending for two decades; Russia is testing the waters with an increased naval and aerial presence; and North Korea is as stable as only a nuclear power run by a man who uses drug-running and currency forgery as instruments of national policy can be.

    But there is no question that the Japanese public is tired of the LDP. They may not blame the government directly for the rising price of food and fuel, but there is definitely a feeling that enough is enough.

    Noriko Hama, a professor of economics at Kyoto's Doshisha University, said: "We have been operating on borrowed time, flying on the wings of a cheap yen and close to zero interest rates. But, with the sub-prime mess, the cheap yen is coming to an end and all that masked the true state of the economy has come away. It's not a pretty picture at all."

    There is little expectation that the new LDP leader, to be announced on September 22, will tackle these problems head-on, she said, anticipating further efforts to "muddle through without identifying the problems or addressing the key causes which will make them part of the problem rather than any solution".

    The opposition Democratic Party of Japan is poised to take power after November's election. But if the LDP's factions have been in a state of disarray, that is nothing compared to the DPJ. Formed by the merger of four opposition parties 10 years ago, its critics say it is little more than a party of convenience for individuals with widely differing aims and ambitions.

    If an LDP administration lasts about 12 months, it is likely that a DPJ one will collapse even faster as the bickering becomes destructive.

    At which point, a suitably chastened LDP will re-emerge, under a new leader, to assume the role to which it believes it was born.

    The real test of whether it will learn anything from its brief spell in the wilderness is whether it rediscovers its reforming zeal and genuinely liberalises the economy, or slips back into its custom of running the country for the benefit of itself and its cronies.

    2008年9月9日 星期二

    現代日本政治事典等

    逛書店 三本 日本相關書

    定價900元的書 沒專頁
    現代日本政治事典, 國立臺灣大學, 民國97年05月,
    告訴你什麼教 SHORT STAY等

    日本美遠足

    2008年7月28日 ... 她的細膩觀察和敏銳思考,成就了這本具有濃濃的和風生活味的美學書。不論你是否正計劃一趟日本之旅,都可以先藉由本書,來一趟心靈的「美的遠足」。

    日本人為什麼會長壽?昭和手作飲食術

    日本人為什麼會長壽?昭和手作飲食術洪金珠. ... 用充滿愛心的手作家庭美食,對抗棘手的現代文明病! 50道昭和手作料理,美味健康兼備,在家也可輕鬆做

    2008年9月2日 星期二

    日本メーカーが「iPhone」を生み出せない理由

    日本企業造不出“iPhone”的理由
    DATE 2008/08/19 印刷用網頁
      【日經BP社報導】 “iPhone的魅力從何而來?”筆者一直在思考這個問題。筆者自己購買了iPhone 3G,不知是什麼理由,筆者對其愛不釋手。

      日本手機確實也不錯。在功能方面,單波段電視、現金支付、相機等很多功能都優於iPhone。但在使用戶“想用”方面,卻遠不及iPhone。日本手 機不是“不行”,而是令人“遺憾”。總是讓人感覺缺點什麼。iPhone也有很多不行的地方,但卻幾乎沒有日本手機那種“遺憾的印象”。只要用過 iPhone的用戶,想必都會明白這種細微的差別。

      iPhone到底是什麼?為了尋找答案,筆者採訪了2008年6月從NTT DoCoMo引退的夏野剛。在長期統率DoCoMo i模式業務的夏野眼中,iPhone究竟是怎樣的產品,這的確是讓人感興趣之處。

      可以說是意外,或者在某種意義上來說又在情理之中,夏野對於iPhone的評價近乎完美。他表示:“與日本的最新手機相比,iPhone更接近未來手機的形態”。夏野已經親自購買並在使用iPhone 3G。

      夏野認為iPhone的魅力之源在於“領導者史提夫·傑伯斯的毫不動搖”。確實,大多數暢銷商品的背後都有著信念執著的強大領導者。正如久多 良木健之於新力電腦娛樂的家用遊戲機“PlayStation”、“PlayStation2”,岩田聰之於任天堂的“NDS”、“Wii”一樣,正因為 領導者擁有明確的目標,員工才能團結一致,為實現目標而努力。

      另一方面,夏野也指出了日本手機廠商存在的各種問題。“否定新創意的人太多”、“什麼都要討論決定,丟掉了鋒芒”、“能人即使存在,卻往往不在說話算數的位置上”。無瑕卻不能打動人心的日本手機就是在這種沒有領導者的環境下誕生的產物。

      不過,其原因不應該只歸結于廠商。日本手機長期處于行動通訊系統業者決定功能配置、廠商按其意向開發的狀態。手機最終屬於移動系統業者,廠商只承擔開發和製造。沒有當事人權力的廠商當然開發不出革命性產品。

      不過,隨著iPhone的問世,這一結構正在逐漸發生改變。對於傳統的日本手機,內容、終端、通信線路全部由移動系統業者向用戶提供。採用的 是以移動系統業者為中心的模式。反觀iPhone,關鍵的“應用軟體”則由蘋果公司一手提供。軟銀移動只不過是提供通信線路,代銷產品而已。iPhone 向日本展示了廠商主導手機業務並非不可實現。伴隨著iPhone的登場,“日本廠商造不出iPhone的理由”正在逐漸消失。

      筆者認為從日本企業的實力考慮,應該完全能夠開發出比iPhone更有魅力、更加好用的手機。今後,只是按照移動系統業者的希望迅速提供產品的“優等生廠商”估計會不斷遭到淘汰。希望能夠開闢商務模式的強大廠商也能在日本湧現。(記者:大森 敏行)

    ■日文原文
    日本メーカーが「iPhone」を生み出せない理由

    「健康‧環境を一兆円事業に」,シャープ社長の片山氏がコメント

    “到2012年度,健康與環境業務的銷售額將達1兆日元!”

      夏普代表董事社長片山幹雄在新產品發佈會上大聲宣告。2012年是夏普創業100週年,屆時,該公司計劃把健康與環境業務的銷售額擴大至07年實際業績的約4倍,達1兆日元。

      健康與環境業務,是指包括08年8月新設的LED業務在內,還有空氣凈化器、冰箱、洗脫烘三機一體洗衣機以及燒烤微波爐等在內的白色家電業務。“目標是把這些業務與太陽能電池單元業務結合,並培育成佔夏普銷售額50%的業務”(片山)。

      作為該業務的核心技術,夏普擁有面向白色家電的超強除菌“電漿離子(Plasma Cluster)技術”、配備在倍受歡迎的燒烤微波爐“HEALSIO”上的“水熱技術”以及具有節能效果的LED照明。“電漿離子和LED均是由半導體 衍化而來的技術。充分利用了日本引以為榮的在半導體方面的技術實力”(片山)。

    新設法人營業部

      夏普達成1兆日元目標的關鍵將是開展海外業務、強化法人營業。

      該公司08年9月1日起,新設了法人營業部門“特機營業本部”。其本部長由執行董事庵和孝就任。

      此前,夏普面向法人的業務僅有影印機和元器件等。今後將以LED照明和空氣凈化器為核心,在日本國內外強化法人營業(參閱本站報導)。片山就法人業務表示“希望能發展成在健康與環境業務銷售額中約佔3~4的業務”。

      面向消費者的業務中,09年之前將開始在海外銷售HEALSIO。庵表示:“市場調查結果表明,海外也有健康烹調器具需求。希望09年之前能夠開始銷售。首先將在美國,其次在中國銷售”。(記者:淺川 直輝)

    ■日文原文
    「健康‧環境を一兆円事業に」,シャープ社長の片山氏がコメント

    2008年9月1日 星期一

    Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda Resigns 福田突然辭職 日本政壇堅冰難破

    2008年09月02日 格林尼治標準時間14:33北京時間 22:33發表
    日相福田康夫辭職帶來政經混亂
    BBC中文部特約記者
    文雨
    發自東京報道

    fukuda
    福田9月1日突然宣布辭去首相職務

    9月1日晚,上台不到一年的福田康夫召開緊急記者會,宣佈辭去首相職務。一夜過後,執政黨自民黨開始準備選舉新總裁,確定於9月22日投開票。

    政經混亂

    據共同社報道,福田突然辭職使日本政局前景難料,9月2日,期貨市場遭遇大單砸盤。

    受其拖累日經指數大幅跳水,跌幅為1.75%,創下今年3月底以來約5個月中的收盤新低。而原定於9月12日召開的臨時國會,也將延期召集。

    在外交方面,原本大致定於9月21日在神戶舉行的日中韓首腦會談預計將被推遲,而為了就自衛隊繼續在印度洋供油活動一事與美國國防部長蓋茨交換意見的防衛相林芳正,也取消了原定於9月上旬的訪美計劃。

    "不負責任"

    9月2日,日本各報均使用大量版面報道福田首相突然辭職一事,各家電視台也分別請來執政黨、在野黨國會議員以及各路專家進行評論和分析。

    對於一年前安倍晉三前首相突然辭職帶來的震蕩,大家都還記憶猶新,而福田首相再次以這種方式"放棄政權",日本國民除了感到"吃驚"、"難以置信"以外,更多的反應是"氣憤"和"無奈"。

    《每日新聞》認為,擁有這種進行"毫無信念的政治漂流"的領導人,對國民來說是一個悲劇﹔

    持保守立場的《產經新聞》感嘆:支撐戰後日本的那些強有力政治家的DNA無處可尋﹔

    《讀賣新聞》呼籲政治家意識到自己所肩負的政治責任﹔

    《朝日新聞》更是明確表示,趕緊讓位給在野黨,選出一個體現民意的政權。

    辭職原因

    對於福田辭職的原因,媒體普遍認為有以下幾點。

    首先,福田內閣成立之後,內閣支持率一直低迷。7月召開的洞爺湖八國峰會,以及8月份進行的內閣改組,均未能按照預期拉升內閣支持率。

    因此,自民黨內部認為在福田領導下難以在下次眾議院選舉中獲勝的聲音日益高漲。

    第二,聯合執政的公民黨在經濟政策、新反恐對策法以及解散國會的時期等問題上與福田的意見對立,使福田倍感壓力。

    第三,執政黨和在野黨在眾參兩院各佔多數的"扭曲國會"局面導致國政停滯,福田無法打開局面。

    而最大在野黨民主黨在黨魁小澤一郎的領導下,已表明了要奪取政權的決心。

    福田在內外交困的情況下選擇辭職,被在野黨和國民批判為"自民黨沒有擔當政權的能力","只想著自己而根本不把國民放在眼裡"。

    麻省太郎
    麻省太郎聲稱做好了擔任首相的准備

    麻生太郎能否如願?

    自民黨已決定自9月10日起進入新總裁選舉期,9月22日投開票。

    即日,日本將誕生新首相

    自民黨幹事長麻生太郎已經明確表示他將出馬競選,而輿論也普遍認為他是新總裁的有力人選。

    不過,自民黨黨內普遍希望能有復數的候選人出來競選總裁,以區別於反對黨民主黨在沒有競爭的狀態下讓小澤一郎連任黨魁。

    誰將出來與麻生太郎競爭總裁職位,已成為福田辭職之後最令人關注的話題。

    不過,自2005年9月以來,這已經是第三次不解散眾院而進行的首相交替,預計新首相上任後將馬上被迫解散眾院,進行大選。

    日本政界人士估計10月上旬或許會解散眾院,而反對黨民主黨首腦表示已經做好大選準備,讓國民來選擇具有執政能力的政黨上台。


    Japan’s Prime Minister Resigns


    Published: September 1, 2008

    TOKYO — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced he would resign on Monday night, abruptly ending his chronically unpopular government after just a year and leaving Japan’s ruling party scrambling to find fresh leadership ahead of crucial national elections.

    Skip to next paragraph
    Toru Hanai/Reuters

    Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced his resignation at a news conference at his official residence in Tokyo on Monday.

    Related

    Times Topics: Yasuo Fukuda | Japan

    Mr. Fukuda’s surprise announcement, made at a hastily called news conference on Monday night, stunned Japan and appeared to plunge the world’s second-largest economy into further political confusion. Last year, Mr. Fukuda’s predecessor, the rightist Shinzo Abe, made an equally sudden resignation.

    Mr. Fukuda’s decision was particularly unexpected because he took office last September as a veteran political insider widely counted on, after Mr. Abe’s hasty departure, to bring stability and restore the Liberal Democratic Party’s tarnished credibility. In the end, Mr. Fukuda, 72, lasted about as long as Mr. Abe — roughly a year.

    His resignation was also surprising to many because it came just a month after he had reshuffled his cabinet, and just days after he unveiled a $17 billion economic stimulus package.

    Still, there had been widespread speculation that Mr. Fukuda, suffering from low popular ratings, might resign ahead of the upcoming national elections, to give the party, a chance to install a more popular new leader. According to that thinking, the ruling party might then call a snap election, hoping to ride the new leader’s initial wave of approval to victory in the polls.

    Most speculation on a successor has focused on Taro Aso, an outspoken, conservative former foreign minister who is now secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party. Mr. Aso, whom Mr. Fukuda beat to become prime minister last year, has not said if he will run again.

    The Liberal Democrats will convene to select their new leader. Since they control the lower house of Parliament, which chooses the prime minister, their selection will automatically acquire the post. The selection process is expected to take about two weeks, during which time Mr. Fukuda will remain in office..

    Mr. Fukuda, whose brief and unsuccessful term makes him unlikely to be one of the most favorably remembered Japanese prime ministers, fumed that he faced an uphill battle almost as soon as he took office. His short stint in office was also marked by a series of missteps and scandals, including allegations of graft at the defense ministry and his own cavalier comments about the government’s apparent loss of the pension records of tens of millions of Japanese.

    Despite his political credentials, he proved incapable of breaking a parliamentary deadlock that delayed the selection of a new central bank chief and the renewal of a law allowing Japanese ships to refuel American and other vessels involved in the war in Afghanistan. These setbacks, along with the owlish Mr. Fukuda’s own colorless style, hurt his approval ratings, which dropped below 30 percent in recent polls.

    “To be honest, from the beginning, longstanding problems appeared one after the other, and I had to face them,” Mr. Fukuda said at the news conference, which was nationally televised. “Dealing with them worked me to death.”

    He said he wanted to get out of the way for a new leader to break the current stalemate in parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house, and to prepare the party for the elections.

    “This is the perfect timing to not cause people too much trouble,” Mr. Fukuda said.

    However, business leaders and opposition politicians were quick to criticize his abrupt exit, especially after Mr. Abe’s sudden departure.

    “It is an utterly irresponsible way to quit,” Kozo Watanabe, a senior adviser at the Democratic Party was quoted as saying by Japan’s Kyodo News. “I cannot help worrying about what will happen to this country’s politics.”

    Indeed, a lack of strong leadership has plagued Japan, even as it grapples with a host of new problems including the rise of neighboring China to a slowdown in its $4.7 trillion economy. The resignations of both Mr. Fukuda and Mr. Abe after short-lived, unpopular governments have highlighted the lack of stability here since the popular Junichiro Koizumi stepped down two years ago.


    wsj

    福田突然辭職 日本政壇堅冰難破
    2008年09月02日06:53



    任不滿一年的日本首相福田康夫(Yasuo Fukuda)周一突然宣布辭職,目前正值日本經濟徘徊在衰退的邊緣之際,此舉勢將延長該國的政治僵局。

    最有可能接替福田出任首相的是麻生太郎(Taro Aso),曾出任外相的他目前擔任執政黨自民黨的總幹事長。
    現年67歲的麻生是一位言語犀利的政治鬥士。從其最近的一系列言論看,他希望通過擴大支出來提振日本經濟,反對被該國龐大的國家債務束縛住手腳。

    無論誰出任日本2006年以來的第四任首相,他都將面臨日本經濟的一系列結構性難題,特別是老齡人口不斷增多的問題。人口老齡化給日本的退休金和醫療保健體系壓上了沉重負擔,而不斷減少的勞動力則增加了日本提高經濟產出的難度。

    由於國內消費者信心低迷,日本的經濟增長嚴重依賴出口,
    這意味著一旦其他主要經濟體的增長放緩,日本也會遭遇池魚之災,過去一年發生的事情就証明了這一點。

    即使麻生太郎出任首相,也很難確保日本政局將保持穩定。
    反對黨正向自民黨施加壓力,要其解散國會馬上舉行選舉。如果現在舉行大選,自民黨有可能失去很多議席,其執政權甚至也有可能被反對黨民主黨奪去。後者還從未執掌過政權,其最近發表的政策聲明顯示,它將回歸通過增加公共開支來促進經濟不振地區發展的老路。

    雖然許多日本人都希望能有一位前首相小泉純一郎(
    Junichiro Koizum)那樣的激進型國家領導人,但目前日本政壇上卻沒有這樣一位能集遠見和政治影響力於一身的人物。小泉在2001年至2006年期間擔任日本首相,在此期間他致力於放鬆對經濟的管治、減少公共開支。

    他的幾位繼任人都軟弱無力。安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)在出任首相約一年後辭職,福田康夫隨後繼任日本首相。
    而曾經集結在小泉純一郎政策大旗下的日本公眾,則對日本的經濟前景日益感到焦慮。在數據顯示日本4至6月份當季的經濟較上年同期收縮2.4%以後,福田康夫試圖以一套老辦法來減輕各方的憂慮。他上周五宣布了提振經濟的一攬子方案,其中包括增加財政支出約160億美元。

    現年72歲的福田周一說,“我今天做出了下台的決定,
    因為我相信我們需要一位新的領導人來實現政策目標。”

    從時機的選擇看福田現在辭職是要給其繼任人充足的時間來準備大選
    ,日本的國會選舉必須於2009年9月之前進行。福田內閣的支持率最近一直徘徊在30%上下。

    無論是自民黨還是反對黨,
    似乎都拿不出解決經濟增長緩慢這一日本過去15年來老大難問題的辦法。許多經濟學家預計,日本今明兩年的經濟增長率都不會超過1%。

    由於銀行受全球金融市場動盪的影響收緊了信貸,
    日本中小企業的破產率正在上升。雖然一些出口企業以往甚至在經濟狀況不佳時也有良好表現,但目前面對全球性的經濟增長放緩,他們也難獨善其身。

    富士膠卷(Fujifilm Holdings Corp.)上周表示,
    在截至2009年3月31日的財政年度內,其集團淨利潤將較上年下降23%,而不是此前預計的增長5%。該公司將這歸咎於全球性的經濟疲軟以及能源和原材料價格的上漲。

    甚至日本強大的汽車工業也難逃厄運。豐田汽車公司(Toyota Motor Corp.)上周宣布,其汽車年銷量突破1,000萬輛、
    晉身世界最大汽車生產商的時間將會推遲,因為公司在發展中國家市場增加的銷量無法抵消在美國市場減少的銷量。該公司還宣布第一財政季度的淨利潤下降了28%。

    不過多數經濟學家也認為,目前這輪經濟低迷將不會太嚴重,
    不會導致失業人數大量增加等問題。其理由是目前的經濟不振主要是由外部因素引起的,比如日本主要出口市場的經濟增長放緩,以及能源和原材料價格的上漲等。

    據日本財務省(Ministry of Finance)稱,
    該國的債務余額今年將相當於國內生產總值的148%,而美國的這一比率為62%。日本政府年度預算的約四分之一要用來償還和支付國家債務的本息。

    經濟增長緩慢意味著,盡管通貨膨脹率不斷走高,
    日本央行有可能繼續將利率維持在低位。央行目前將短期目標利率定在僅僅0.5%的水平,而上調這一利率有可能導致長期利率的抬高,從而增加政府的償債負擔、妨礙降低政府負債水平的努力。

    日本核心消費者價格指數今年7月較上年同期上漲2.4%,
    增速達到10年之最。這一指數沒有涵蓋生鮮食品的價格,但反映了能源產品的價格。

    福田康夫辭職的最直接後果是將侵蝕自民黨的執政力,
    該黨在去年的選舉中剛剛失去對國會參議院的控制。雖然自民黨主導的執政聯盟仍然控制著權力更大的國會眾議院,但參議院卻有權推遲立法進程以及否決重要的人事任命。

    民主黨已經在用它新近獲得的參議院控制權來打擊福田康夫政府,
    目的是迫使他宣布舉行大選。由於民主黨的作梗,日本曾臨時退出了為印度洋上的軍用船只sic 補充燃料的行動,這些船只正在參與美國領導的在阿富汗軍事行動。今年早些時候,日本央行曾連續幾周面臨沒有行長的局面,此前福田康夫提名的好幾位央行行長候選人都被民主黨主導的國會參議院所否決。而央行目前仍有一個副行長的職位空缺。

    福田康夫也曾嘗試反擊,他上月改組了內閣,
    任命了一批新人來擔任財務省和經濟產業省等重要部門的大臣。他上周五還推出了總額達1,060億美元的一攬子經濟刺激方案。但日本政府的高額負債意味著,他本財年僅能承諾增加支出160億美元。

    福田康夫周一沮喪地表示,
    他推動一些重要政策的努力不斷被反對黨所阻撓。但他沒有說辭職決定何時生效,這表明他將留任到自民黨選出新的領袖。自民黨必須舉行一次內部選舉來確定其新領導人,這一過程可能需要數周。

    雖然福田出生於政治世家,但卻由於太過謙遜、
    缺乏決斷力而被認為不是天生的政治家。他的父親曾在1976至1978年期間擔任日本首相。

    剛剛出任首相時,福田康夫曾說自己領導的是個“背水一戰”
    的內閣,而且他確實很快就遇到了麻煩。不過福田在外交方面卻取得了一些成功,這部分應歸功於他願意改善與中國等鄰國的關系sic。今年5月他接待了來訪的中國國家主席胡錦濤,這是中國國家領導人10年來首次訪問日本。今年6月,中日兩國又在長期存在爭議的領海問題上取得了突破性進展,兩國同意共同開發東中國海的天然氣田。