An Expat's thoughts

Japan's pork barrel road system

2006-05-26T13:12:00.000+09:00

I wanted to discuss something that has become a concern of mine, namely the road system here in Japan. Actually here in Shizuoka in particular there is a new highway being constructed with government funding. Its called the Tomei expressway and its pork pure and simple. What is tomei you ask ? Well its a massive investment in a series of bridges and tunnels that skirt along the the mountain range just west of town. Yet unlike most other Japanese products this system has been working for 10 years or more ! yet they aren't even close to finishing !
Add to this disturbing news is that the neighboring prefecture "aichi" is not interested in funding its section of the road, so in effect the road from Shizuoka goes nowhere.

Why is Shizuoka building a highway ? because of its rather unique topgraphy the communication links are in a north south configuration. However this system is currently at or over capacity so the Highway corporation decided to fund this alternate system. Yet the road will not benefit Shizuoka in any meaningful way as it detours traffic away from shizuoka downtown business districts. In fact a driver from Tokyo to say Nagoya (the largest city in aichi prefecture) will not even see downtown shizuoka but simply pass over the mountain range. How this project benefits Shizuoka is beyond me. Well beyond the near term benefit of road construction jobs... Further rubbing salt into the wound is that Aichi already has sufficient road systems so that the "new" shizuoka bypass really doesn't benefit aichi at all.

The system is clearly broken and bordering on criminal. You can see it when the Shizuoka business district cuts back on bicycle parking. Yet Shizuoka has the wonderful benefit of being quite flat and thus most consumer use bicycles to get around town. Yet according to the local government gerontocracy bikes are bad. It seems they are conveniently forgetting what made Shizuoka grow in the past and wish to concentrate on making their buddies rich on concrete contracts and road construction projects for cars that don't really help the local economy at all. It makes me want to run for public office. Who knows maybe I will if for no other reason than to inject some useful dialog into the mix.

In a crowded country such as Japan cars are not the answer. Pedestrians and bicycles are. The promote business and improve air quality. The money saved on pork barrel road projects alone can be spent on downtown events to draw folks to the downtown, which is currently on a major downward track.

Ok well I am off my soap box, but I wanted to go on record as against the current system of driving subsidization.

thoughts continued

2006-03-12T11:25:00.000+09:00

well once again dear reader its been far too long since my last post, but rather than bemoan the lack of content I will rather get about the business of writing something for your entertainment.

Wedensday March 15 is tax day here in Japan, and accountants as well as businesspeople across the country are seeking creative accounting methods to reduce their amounts due. Personally speaking I have found it quite interesting that the tax department provides forms in english and in addition has english speaking assistance at many tax offices across the country. The personal credit card companies could learn alot from the tax department as the providers of plastic cards continue to discriminate against foreigners by insisting on their forms being filled out in khanji. One wonders how much additional business they could do if they altered their medieval policy.

From some of the news sources I have read it appears that the Bank of Japan may begin the process of slowing the massive infusion of cash into the economy as it appears that deflation may be a thing of the past. As far as I am concerned the jury is still out on deflation being present or not and that if the Bank of Japan does increase the prime rate it could have some serious negative consequences.

Perhaps on the face of it deflation is a bad thing, but in a country where a melon could cost 20 dollars I feel a little deflation might be in order. It certainly doesn't hurt to have prices drop from some of the crazy prices I have seen around Japan. I think to a certain degree the higher prices have alot to do with the population density and that businesses often hire extra workers. So the challenge usually becomes to find everyone enough work to do. As a result prices tend to be on the high side in order to cover the additional costs of the extra workers. Another factor would be a propensity towards monopoly. In my town there is only one bus comany. Its a private business and as such is free to set whatever fee they wish for the use of their buses and trains. The transit company also owns a supermarket, but due to heavy competition in the food business the transit companies supermarkets have very competitive prices. The bus however leaves much to be desired as it cost about 2 dollars to travel downtown which is at most a mile or two. Private transport companies have a long history in this country and when in larger cities the traveller often utilizes these private lines as they save time due to direct connections with the national rail system.

Actually one need only take a closer look at the history of transport in the USA to see that most systems were private until they monopolized due to competition and eventually were amalgamated into the city transit system. Here in japan that last process hasn't occurred on a large scale basis as of yet.

the japanese prime minister

2005-10-21T00:12:00.000+09:00

Back again, this time I wanted to briefly talk about Mr Koizumi's visit to yasukuni shrine. Its is a touchy subject because it is the national shrine dedicated to those who gave their lives for Japan in wars past but it also cares for the remains of some class A war criminals. There are many smaller shrines located throughout the country all to remember japanese veterans. In fact I visited one in Shiga-ken sometime last month while touring the Nagahama area (more on that in another post). In a country focused on respect and saving face, these shrines are kept in very good condition which is something that perhaps western countries should seek to mimic.

Yet the visit by Koizumi to this shrine is controversial to say the least. Korean and Chinese nationals believe that adequate compensation hasn't been received and that the Japanese government has done an inadequate job of "apologizing" for war crimes. In fact some things just don't seem to make sense, for example Japan does offer monthly payments to those who have suffered yet they only make payments for those who reside in Japan. What they hey is that ? I mean that just makes no sense whatsoever. Its in effect a limited admission of guilt, yet it just makes the situation worse as foreign nationals are told they suffered yet receive no monetary compensation. Bitterness remains, its a marketers worst nightmare.

In Mr Koizumi's defense he claims that
A he is visiting as a private citizen
B he is praying for the ending of all wars

This is understandably a reasonable stance, yet when you look into the details of it one is left with some very undainty details. I for one am shaking my head at the crassness of it. If as Mr Kozimui says he is visiting the shrine as a private citizen then why did he sign his name "Koizumi Prime Minister Japan" in the visitors book ? Indeed why does he sign the guest book at all ? He just stokes the fires more by doing so. Or perhaps a better question, if he is visiting as a private citizen then why does he use official use only entrances to enter the shrine or for that matter does he wear the traditional kimono symbolizing his position ?

These and many other questions were answered the day before yesterday when Mr Koizumi visited the shrine this time in a business suit and by entering through the main/public entrance. This is itself yet another admission of guilt. If his previous actions were as a private citizen then why change anything ? Perhaps it was because of a recent court ruling in Osaka saying that the Prime Ministers visit to the shrine is in violation of the constitution. Yet any bonehead can see that Mr Koizumi clearly rode to the shrine in an official government car, so in fact he DID continue to use the office of Prime Minister when attending the shrine. Sometimes its just shocking how poor a job the government does. On the news they interviewed one of the PM's advisors who proclaimed that his adjusted visitation was kosher and that there should not be any international reaction. Its almost as if the Japanese government believes that if they have enough meetings they can decide what foreign reaction will be to domestic policy. Morons....

but I digress.

The facts are that Mr Koizumi has visited the shrine as PM of Japan. The more he denies it, the more he sounds like Chicken Little when he proclaimed the sky was falling.

The regional reaction was swift. China has cancelled its scheduled foreign minister meeting with japan, and south korea has also cancelled its cabinet level meetings with japan. If the goal was to torpedo any regional good feelings than the visit to the shrine was a smashing success.

Mr Koizumi can claim whatever he wants to, and perhaps even sleeps well at night. The facts are that he has seriously damaged regional stability and it makes me question the rationale of a man I would otherwise say is doing a rather good job of it.

The good news is that this will be his last visit as prime minister as he is due to step down from party leadership next september. At least this is his claim and I for one do believe that. The sticky situation will fall to his replacement at the LDP. Hopefully discretion will rear its reasonable head and the PM will not visit the shrine but instead make public statements about the abolishment of war etc etc.

This is a very complex situation for example, why do Chinese people think they have a say in Japanese domestic policy ? I mean if Native Americans protested Bush visiting Arlington cemetary, guess where the american public would tell them to shove it ? Yet is it not the job of the leadership to facilitate bridges, rather than burning them ? No its not exactly comparable, but this is to make a point.

The Japanese have done a bad job on the international scene of explaining their positions. For example they are the number 2 contributor to the UN, which when not having a scandal does a tremendously wonderful job of fighting problems in the developing world. The Japanese have in fact apologized to China and Korea in the past and they have given money. How many of us knows this ? Language barrier perhaps, but there are quite alot of very good english speakers in this country so methinks the problem lies with the gerontocracy... (more on that in another post)

well thanks for reading my train of thought. From shizuoka this is your humble blogger turning out the light and hitting the hay.

Living in Japan

2005-10-10T19:14:00.000+09:00

Man oh man, when and where did I decide to learn japanese ? In all seriousness it takes about 2000 words to actually be "conversational" in Japanese, I am told that it takes approx 800 words for conversational ability in English. Of course what the actual conversation contains ... well lets just say thats up to you.

For example english speakers say "I" but the japanese can say watashi, boku, jibun plus a few more. So you have to memorize three words just for I. Not to mention the counting system which is broken into counting flat items, round items, years, etc etc. My Japanese teacher was trying to teach me all the counting systems when I explained that all I wanted to do was order 2 beers and I didn't care if it sounded strange. Ni biru, futatsu biru... whats the difference but then I noticed that sometimes my japanese doesn't work as simply as I had hoped it would.

Eeven when you can actually speak in Japanese, often the Japanese person is in such a panic that they aren't comprehending what you are saying. The japanese say "oh ! gaijin da!" The other day I had a computer problem which is a bad thing, but on the other hand many of the same computer words are utilized by both cultures, which is a good thing. Ram is Ram, software is soft, bios etc etc. I called the store and talked with the manager who is a friendly guy, explained that I would be dropping off my computer. He said it would be no problem. BUT when I arrived the manager was busy with a customer and the assistant was manning the register. I calmly explained my problem and asked him if it was ok to leave the comp there on the floor. It was quite a few sentences in japanese which I thought I did a good job on, but the guy just turned pink and after I was finished and asked OK? he simply said "eh?". It was both humbling and frustrating. I was actually trying to communicate but without luck. Perhaps my japanese is bad (no question about that) but I was trying. He just gave up listening.

Learning a european language is easy compared to this. The Japanese will of course say that their language is mostly logical and easy to learn if you follow the system. The problem is that I don't want to count beer glasses, photocopies and people with different counting systems ! well live and learn. Its an immersion experience so make the most of it.

Yes its true

2005-10-06T22:48:00.000+09:00

I have been a lame blogger. I will admit that my time and resources have been spent elsewhere.

Alot has happened so I guess I will take it one at a time.

To start your own business in Japan I would highly recommend you check out JETRO. This is the import export business FAQ for all us english speakers who want to make a buck over here. They have extensive books on just about every subject you can think of. Do the research first, see what the potential areas of concern could be.

THEN take the next step which would be to find a broker to arrange the shipping. There has been a worldwide shortage in containers and container shipping so there is more of a premium to pay but its still a viable option. There are many new ship hulls being laid down in Korea, China and Japan as we speak.

It will (to a large degree) depend on how the government of japan classifies your product. If you are selling perfume for example then you will need a skin test or some other form of testing to be done. This is highly expensive, however if you can get your product to be listed as say flooring scent you may be able to dodge a bullet. Your broker can be a life saver. Do your homework.

Here in Japan there has been a recent election as Mr Koizumi has challenged the "old guard" to an old fashioned runoff with the deciding issue being the Post Office and reform. Many outside Japan may not know that the Postal Service here is in fact the worlds LARGEST bank (source BBC) Thus this is big money we are talking about. Its about privatising something that the old guard used for pork barrel projects and patronage. The history of government here is quite complex and I am only a neophyte. As I learn more I can share what I know, until then its mostly a grey area.

Suffice to say that the REAL issue here is the pending baby boom retirement and not banking privatisation.

More later I promise
and thanks for reading

My first post

2004-05-11T15:53:00.001+09:00

well hello ladies and gentlemen this marks the beginning of what I hope to be a somewhat regular feature from the wonderful country of Japan. Some of my stateside friends and family have asked me similar questions so I thought I would address some of these issues on this Blog as well as many of the similarities and differences between the two cultures. Its not an simple subject matter so please bear with me as I make some points for starters ok ?
For starters lets deal with the languages of English and Japanese.
As a neophyte its become abundantly clear how bloody difficult it can be to learn a foreign language, especially one that has no european basis to work from. For example if you learn Spanish you can apply much of what you learn towards the pursuit of Italian. With Japanese however throw the rulebook out the window, its very different from English. Its actually somewhat amazing that so many japanese speak english as well as they do. Its a bloody minefield of tenses, verbs, subjects and particles. I have never been the greatest of students so the language is coming along somewhat slowly for me at present (this is in spite of my immersion for a period of almost 1 year). However, my listening comprehension and vocabulary has improved to the point where I can make out the subject matter in some conversations which is the first step into the larger world of life in Japan.
Many native english speakers are quite content to only speak english in japan and you can in fact do quite well here with that modus operandi. Many Japanese prefer to practice their english with native english speakers anyways so I can see the attraction. In Tokyo for example the subway system is full of english signs, advertising, maps and onboard announcements so its fairly easy to get around. The reverse however is not true. It must be a most frightening thing for a japanese person to travel to america. The speed of the language alone is daunting ! Trust me as my japanese ain't great but when its spoken at native speeds its almost impossible to hear everything, let alone understand the context of what is being said. Why they continue to learn english and wish to come to america is a testament to their drive and desire to learn about the world. Certainly its something that living on an island and speaking a unique language is not in their favor.
So there is alot of english here. The national news (NHK) has a second audio channel in english, they show many american programs such as ER, monday night football and ABC news nightline. So despite being far from home the American is surrounded by the sights and sounds of home. Shopping is always an intersting experience. If you can imagine yourself as an illiterate and shopping in the US for food... this would be a familiar experience shopping in Japan. Everything is clearly labeled with wonderful pictures displaying how wonderful and delicious the food is. Restaurants have plastic food, so if you can't make yourself understood you merely take the restaurant worker outside and point at the dish you wish to eat. Its all pretty much cut and dried. However this is where the feeling can become somewhat odd. You are surrounded by english and things american and you start to feel somewhat comfortable in this environment when you are quickly shocked back into reality by a strange custom, different smell or odd look. The fact is that Japan and America have alot more in common than they do differences. Shut your eyes on the JR (japan national rail system) and you could very well be on the Subway or Bart, its downright spooky at times.
ok thats all for now, thanks for reading my ramblings. Ideally at some point it will be edited and put into a more managable format. Until then "deal with it" and thanks.