Japan's Right-Wingers Out of Control

[stevedeshazer]

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/

Japan is making its way back as a topic of interest on the nation's front pages and editorials -- not for trade related problems which dominated the US-Japan relationship through most of the 1990s -- but mostly because of its creep towards a revived strident right-wing nationalism that promulgates obsessive cultural uniqueness as well as a sneering dismissal of historical accountability.

The latest prominent Japan-focused piece appeared under George Will's by-line this morning.

But what worries me is not the American press about Japan -- but rather the battle inside Japan among Japanese -- and the fact that the good guys are losing.

Masaru Tamamoto -- editor of an important on-line magazine, JIIA Commentary published by the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs-supported Japan Institute for International Affairs -- is under attack from Yoshihisa Komori, the long-time DC-based former editor and now roving editor of Japan's right-wing newspaper, the Sankei Shimbun.

more at link: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/

[tsuki]

1. From the Asahi Shimbun:

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608170061.html

/snip

The passage of time may have managed to calm their ravaged hearts, but they will probably never be able to forget. So how could they allow the country that caused such anguish to act as though it has succeeded in forgetting? If the standpoints were reversed, that would be clearly understandable.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi prayed at Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday, the anniversary of the end of World War II. Again, he trotted out his "matters of the heart" rhetoric.

It seems that he treasures his own precious feelings but cannot extend the same consideration to the hearts of others living in neighboring countries that were victimized by his own nation. Koizumi serves as representative of the Japanese people, yet we cannot help but notice his narrow-mindedness.

Some things in this world cannot be forgotten even after 100 years. I wish Koizumi would handle the issue with compassion and magnanimity. Or is that asking too much?

/end

[Stinky The Clown]

2. The whole world, it seems, is moving this way .......

Angela Merkel in Gernmany's right wing

Howard in Australia's right wing.

The new guy in Canada's right wing

Israel's out-of-control right wing even if the Likud isn't in power.

Mexico is still writing in agony.

Blair's gone way overboard after being more or less sane when Clinton was in office.

Mercifully, there are some bright spots

Italy, Spain .... Scandanavia, always ..... Ireland ......

[Benhurst]

3. What about Denmark? Something seems a bit rotten there as

of late, and it isn't the cheese.

[stevedeshazer]

4. And we're in the goddamned driver's seat.

It's insane. :crazy:

[skids]

5. Bright spots...

...a large portion of South and Central America.