The White Peril 白禍

As of this morning, it's still considered possible that the DPRK will test-fire its long-range Taepodong 2 missile:

On 18 June, US White House press secretary [Tony] Snow warned North Korea about apparent signs that it will test-fire its Taepodong 2 long-range ballistic missile: "If a test-fire is conducted, we will have to make a correct and appropriate response." He avoided mentioning any concrete [measures], but seems to have been thinking of filing a report with the United Nations Security Council or cooperating with other interested nations to impose sanctions.

The Nikkei is citing a CNN interview that I've managed not to see. Whether I've back-translated Snow's diplomat-o-lect accurately, I don't know. Over here, Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Aso is taking a less-bland stance:

Japan will immediately ask the United Nations for an emergency Security Council meeting if Pyongyang launches the Taepodong 2 missile now on a launch pad in North Korea, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Sunday.

Japan will also consider imposing economic sanctions against North Korea if the country fires the missile, Aso said.

The ballistic missile is believed capable of hitting the west coast of the United States.

"We will discuss which measure we will take, as we have several alternatives including (putting an embargo on) the North Korean cargo ferry Man Gyong Bong-92 and several other means," Aso told reporters.

...

Whether Japan would consider it a pre-emptive strike if a missile is fired and hits Japanese soil would depend on the circumstances, Aso added.

The Yomiuri has a somewhat different interpretation (and it does sound as if both articles were talking about the same appearance by Aso):

Aso also mentioned the possibility of the missile reaching Japan. "I don't think the missile would fly correctly even if North Korea intends to fire the missile to land in the sea. We have to consider the possibility that the missile will mistakenly fall on Japanese territory," the foreign minister said.

Japan isn't really in the position of late to be getting all smirky over the ability of other countries to launch projectiles accurately, but of course the issue is a real one. Yesterday, the word was that spy images were showing little new activity, so the excitement died down a little. The DPRK doesn't seem to have issued any kind of public statement, either of the "nothing to worry about" or of the "how dare you interfere in our private military affairs!" variety. Assuming the test-firing is carried out and doesn't go awry in a way that provokes a serious incident--say, the missile ends up falling on an apartment building in Sapporo--the usual condemnations are likely to be as far as things are taken.

The Diet has decided to get tough on suicide through the only mechanism it knows how to operate: government programs and lists of new rules.

The "basic law to deal with suicides" was approved at the Lower House plenary session with the support of both the ruling and opposition parties. The Upper House passed the bill last week.

The law calls for research into the causes of suicides, efforts to ensure mental stability among workers and support for those who have attempted suicide.

The legislation says suicides should not be dealt with as an individual's problem because such deaths have been partly brought on by social factors.

"Suicides have various and complicated causes and backgrounds," the law says. "Measures should be taken not only from the viewpoint of mental health but also based on the actual conditions of each case."

The law says it is the central government's duty to work out and implement comprehensive measures to deal with suicides.

That part about suicide not being "an individual's problem"--the Japanese version of the article doesn't have the original from which that phrase was translated--resonates slightly differently here, I think, from the way it would to a Westerner. The Japanese tend to think that if you're unhappy, it's you're fault for being so weak-minded. The proper attitude toward life is to work hard and set your jaw as you push through difficulties. The idea that some people might be living with little emotional support under circumstances that push them to their limits is not a common one here. In that sense, taking account of "the actual conditions of each case" could be a more innovative approach than that bland wording makes it sound.

Japan's high suicide rate is a heartbreaking problem, and it is indeed one that requires society-wide action. But I'm not sure that any federal government program could effect the change in attitudes that would be required to address it. The specific measures include more than just useless public service announcements of the "Citizens, let's not be offing ourselves, okay?" variety, but they still seem to assume that "maintain[ing] mental health" and "support" can be legislated into effect:

Under the law, company owners are required to implement measures to maintain the mental health of their employees. The central government must offer more support to those who have attempted suicide and to families of those who have killed themselves.

The law also says the central government will set up an anti-suicide task force in the Cabinet Office chaired by the chief Cabinet secretary. The task force must submit progress reports on the government's measures to the Diet every year.

Whether any of this will succeed in convincing people that their individual lives have purpose and meaning, that their troubles are obstacles that can be dealt with and overcome, that it's worth soldiering through for those around them who care about and depend on them, and that seeking help doesn't mean they're crazy--all of that remains to be seen.

Thanks to those who have mailed to ask whether I'm dead. NB^*: It is not charming to append "Oh, and, uh, on the off chance that you are, can I totally have the Riedel glasses? I mean, Atsushi doesn't drink, anyway." Yes, I'm fine. No, I'm not abandoning the blog. Like a lot of people whose blogging drops off, I've been busy. When I get home and pour a Scotch, the thought that comes to mind isn't exactly, Hmm...now how can I spend some more time today (1) communicating with people and (2) parked in front of a computer. You know what I mean? I've been keeping up with the news, but the few tentative posts I've started have diffused on me midway, so I've iced them and figured I'll come back to writing regularly when there are more interesting things happening and more interesting things to say about them.

Part of the problem is that the Murakami Fund scandal has become the News Story that Ate Japan, and while it's obviously important (latest development in English here), the script being followed in covering it is so predictable, it's kind of hard to stay awake through. The guy probably is as arrogant a jerk as he's made out to be. Note the social-democrat nightmare headline--really sets the tone:

After becoming a bureaucrat at the former International Trade and Industry Ministry (now the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry), he became known as an argumentative type who was not afraid to speak frankly with his superiors, presaging his subsequent persona as an outspoken shareholder.

In July 1999--shortly before his 40th birthday--he quit the ministry saying he wanted to set up his own business. Around that time, he started MAC Asset Management, which became the core of other funds that went on to be called the Murakami Fund. Executives of MAC, which ceased operation in May, included high school or university classmates who had worked at major securities firms or the National Police Agency.

...

In 2002, Murakami became the top shareholder of major clothing company Tokyo Style Co. and demanded it increase dividends and bring in outside board members. His proposals were all rejected at a shareholders meeting, but he did not change his aggressive ways, saying, "As a major shareholder, I intend to continue to push [for improved business performance by the company]."

...

Murakami has made various demands of firms in which he has invested. The demands included the disposal of bad loans.

However, he has been the subject of criticism that what he was doing was only making profit for himself and not benefiting the companies in which he invested.

Getting a plum job at MITI...and then repaying his benefactors by sassing back to them rather than discreetly riding the escalator right up to the revolving door! Forsaking government service for the private sector! Demanding profitability for investors! It all sounds so...foreign. I'm not familiar enough with the specific takeovers Murakami has been involved in to know whether he was making tough but necessary decisions to increase efficiency at bloated organizations or just trying to pump up profits long enough for him and his friends to get a good take. Either is certainly a possibility.

At the same time, it's necessary to bear in mind that the leftover Japan Inc. system makes it as easy for parasites as capitalism does. They just happen to be different parasites. Mouthy individual fund managers such as Murakami attract attention in ways that scores of quiet bureaucrats engaged in cronyism and bid-rigging don't, but who's causing more harm or being more selfish strikes me as an open question.

^* "Nota, bitch," for those who have forgotten their Latin.

The obvious problem with "Koizumi's Kids," the freshmen Diet members who were elected as part of the groundswell of voter support for the prime minister in last year's snap election, is that being non-traditional politicians, they're likely to have trouble politicking. A solution being offered by the LDP is a seminar series:

The Liberal Democratic Party will offer a seminar within the month to teach knowhow in three fields--Diet activities, election activities, and the planning of policy--to new Diet members elected to the lower house last year.

The knowhow as described in the article is less a remedial version of a high school civics class than the sort of nuts-and-bolts knowledge people who found themselves elected officials more or less by accident need if they're going to be able to maneuver. It's probably good that the LDP is providing it. (And I daresay it seems less of a warning sign here that members of the Diet would need it than it might in a different country. Even in adulthood, the Japanese are very comfortable with lists and diagrams and things to help them navigate.) On the other hand, one wonders whether any of this clutch of chicks has a fraction of Koizumi's conviction. Koizumi may not have succeeded in most of his reform agenda, but it was all built around a core of shared principles, and he knew how to plug away at it in PR terms. Whether he could have won on more points if he'd fought harder is an open question, but he was not, as is occasionally said, running on nothing but raw charisma (wonder whether Koizumi's Kids will manage to display any of that, either, for that matter).

The jockeying for the prime minister's position in September continues; Abe is still the frontrunner. Various higher-ups in factions are appearing regularly to state that divisiveness is bad...or that putting factional unity above principle is bad...or that what's really bad is China's repeated attempts to interfere in Japan's internal affairs. I haven't seen anything particularly noteworthy in the last few weekends of political yak shows.

Japan Defense Agency head Fukushiro Nukaga has met with US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Singapore:

[A]bout the Ground Self Defense Force's activities in Samawa in southern Iraq, Nukaga made clear his desire for close coordination in setting the date for withdrawal: "We want to coordinate any moves from here on with the US, the UK, and Australia."

There's no more specific information from the Nikkei, and not all of Japan's international relations moves have proceeded all chummy-like this weekend:

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Saturday morning in TV shows that he would not say whether he would visit Yasukuni Shrine in his campaign pledge during the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election campaign in September.

In programs broadcast by TBS and YTV, Abe said: "I don't plan to say I will or won't go. If my saying anything about it becomes a diplomatic issue, I shouldn't say anything, considering the political situation and the party presidential election. It's best not to clearly state [whether I will visit the shrine]."

Abe also said China has criticized Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visiting the shrine partly due to its "anti-Japan education."

"As China offers anti-Japan education, an anti-Japan tide is rolling among its people. If the country backs off on the [Yasukuni Shrine] issue, the Chinese government will face difficulties [at home]," he said.

The PRC usually responds to every peep from the Koizumi administration about the Yasukuni visits; I haven't read of anything extracted from Xinhua this weekend, though.

There's been something of a gesture of goodwill toward Korea--not by the government directly, but by Japan's hoity-toitiest public university:

A set of voluminous documents that constitutes one of only four known definitive records of the era of Korean kings--and which vanished when Japan controlled the Korean Peninsula--will be returned to its rightful owner, the University of Tokyo announced Wednesday.

Koreans say "The Annals of the Choson Dynasty" were stolen during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The set of handwritten books is registered as a national treasure in South Korea. The volumes ended up at the university's library.

Some of the volumes were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.