Shinji Fukukawa, former vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry making a clear and sound balance of the actual situation of Japanese politics.
Factors that contributed to the deterioration of Japanese politics
1 - The detachment of politics from people, there is a rising dissonance feeling amongst the Japanese Society regarding politics.
2 - The political decision-making institutions are not effectively working.
3 - The decline in the ability of political parties and individual politicians.
Noriko Sakai was Japan´s mama idol and, previously, Japan´s favorite “pure and innocent" girl. Noriko is famous not only in Japan but also in Taiwan, Hong Kong and even China. Actually, she is the most well-known Japanese actress among Chinese in their 30s and 40s
Curiously, she is also the daughter of an Yamanashi Yakuza and her brother, also an Yakuza, was recently arrested.
Her husband, Yukichi Takaso, a self proclaimed pro-surfer and a spoiled brat from a rich family, was arrested alleged charged of drugs possession. He was immediately detained taken to police station where the urine tests confirmed he was consuming drugs.
The “dude” is also an obnoxious “stool pigeon” as he was so quick to blow the whistle revealing that his wife was also doing drugs with him.
Some of her friends mentioned that her successful return to acting after childbirth turned Noriko into a role model for many women therefore she was under an incredible stress, far beyond what one may imagine. After all Noriko had another hidden side, she was enjoying being a head banger, tattoos and wild parties spiced up with drugs. Her first hit son was “Aoi Usagi”, Blue Rabbit but in those parties she was better known as “Shiroi Usagi” White Rabit, due to the use of cocaine.
This history does not strike so much European mind sets but in Japan it is in the deadly sin class. Public Personalities, namely stars, are supposed to be role models as everybody is watching them, when they fell off the wagon disappointment comes and there is no forgiveness, no mercy.
This takes us to the main vectors of social interaction in Japanese Society, Honne and Tatemae:
“…These two words are often considered a dichotomy contrasting genuinely-held personal feelings and opinions from those that are socially controlled. Honne is one's deep motive or intention, while tatemae refers to motives or intentions that are socially tuned, those that are haped, encouraged, or suppressed by majority norms. (Honna & Hoffer, 1986, p. 94)…”
In other words: “…Honne means one's real or true intention; one's true motive. Tatemae means a principle, a policy, a rule, a basis or a system. In daily usage they can perhaps be translated as the individual's voice and the group's voice, or as private versus public opinions. For those learning of this for the first time, it is the ability of Japanese to have two different (often contradictory) answers to a question…”
What you think (Honne) you keep mainly to yourself, what you say must contribute to the group harmony (Tatemae). This is why you can only expect nothing but kind remarks from Japanese people when you start negotiations with them. This sparks the riddle on how to recognize a “soft no” and a “soft yes”. I´ll come to this issue in a new post
Back to Noriko Sakai, her songs are nº 1 on ITunes and her CD´s sales have suddenly increased so we may finish with 2 questions: 1 - A democratic support from Japanese People? 2 – Like so many other issues in Japanese society, is Japanese mindset changing?
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