Listening Practice.

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Rumination - Cultural Awareness --- Historic Landslide Election in Japan

Hey, gang! How’s everybody, um, it’s been a real interesting recent couple of days in Japan – even though I’m not there I try to stay connected with what’s going on in the country, and as most of you living there know there was an amazing and historic election last Sunday, the thirtieth. And the LDP, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan – which has basically ruled uninterrupted since 1955(or the 1950s, it might not be 1955), lost basically. And Taro Aso who is the current prime minister resigned and the head of the LDP resigned and will step down and be replaced as prime minister by Yukio, let me make sure I get his name right, Hatoyama, Hatoyama-san, who is the president of the new ruling party, The Democratic Party of Japan, The DPJ. So, um, you know, he’s not a young guy. He doesn’t seem to necessarily – I’m talking about Hatoyama now, uh sorry – he doesn’t seem to be as charismatic as say Koizumi, who was kind of the Clinton of Japan for his reign as prime minister. But the main reason I’m turning on the camera and I’m talking about this a little bit is that, you know if you’re going to go live in Japan, or if you’re gonna apply to JET this fall in a couple of months, um, know a little bit about the country that you’re going to live in. Um, and I think this goes a little bit beyond learning Japanese a little bit. Try to learn a little bit about the way things work in Japan. And while, you know, as a gaijin in Japan you will never be eligible to vote, um, of course many of the policies, etc, that will be discussed will be completely out of your realm of, uh, you know, you won’t care, and you know they’ll be out of your realm of understanding. Um, but to know a little bit about the political system in Japan and how it works, how people get elected, um, you know in this day and age of Wikipedia and the ease of information on the internet, while it’s not all, of course, reliable, it’s really, um, you know there’s no excuse, basically, for not being more informed and, uh, if you’re gonna go live somewhere I think it behooves you to try to find out a little bit about that country. So, when I was in college, back in 2002, 2003, finishing my degree, I minored in Japanese studies, and one of the classes I took was, uh, a politics in Japan course, Modern Politics in Japan course.
And we basically looked at the Twentieth Century. Um, and so I learned a little bit about how it works. And it’s a very complicated system. I won’t lie. You know there’s proportional representation and a parliament but the amazing thing is that one party, even in coalition, but basically one party, the LDP has held control of Japan for a long long time. And that’s no longer the case. And even though their name is the “Liberal” Democratic Party, they were basically almost the equivalent of the Republican Party of the United States. They were a fairly conservative party. Um, now, even Tokyo Cooney who I follow on Twitter and has lived in Japan much longer than I did, you know Twittered about or Tweeted or whatever the hell you call it, um, that, um, you know, how much actual change will we see, um, but basically the main articles that I’ve been reading, and I’ll put some links in the side, um, to like Japan Times on line so you can read some articles in English, um, is you know this wasn’t, this wasn’t an election, this result did not come about because people were, um, you know, realy rallying about a certain policy or anything of substance in the issues, it was really pent up frustration and anger at what many Japanese voters saw as the LDP’s, you know, mishandling of the economy, bungling of, you know, certain issues, just insane bureaucracy which can overwhelming at times in Japan. And wanting a change. And I think it’s no coincidence that this came a year after kind of the sweeping change and promise, uh, you know, uh, hope of, hope of change promised by Barack Obama. And Obama is an amazingly popular figure in Japan right now. Um, so that kind of thing, you know, is uh, you know just very interesting to watch from an outsider’s perspective. Um, but if you’re in Japan this last couple of weeks. I’m sure you got tired of all the trucks blaring the election stuff in your ears and you’re happy that it’s over, but it is interesting. And even my crappy local San Diego paper which is the Union Tribune”. The, uh, headline on the front page on, this was Monday, right. Yeah, Monday the 31st, was the Little League team from a local area, Tula Vista won the Little League World Series. Now, I’m not belittling that as an accomplishment and to San Diego locals this is a huge huge deal. And I’m sure this is the only paper in the United States where that made the front page. And, uh, my hats off to the boys. I watched the games. I cheered. Everything.
But on the second, you know, under the fold,
as they say in newspaper parlance was a story on the front page about, um, the landslide victory of the Democratic Party of Japan. Um, and saying “voters anger grew as the economy fizzled”. Um, and they won 308 seats of the Lower House, um, the 480 seat Lower House. And this guy who is, um, 62 years old,
Yuko Hatoyama, and he was trained as an engineer, um, at Stanford University in America of all places, um, will probably become the next Prime Minister of Japan.
So, you know, know that fact. You know, if you’re gonna go for your JET interview or something, know who the Prime Minister is. Um, there’ve been a few in my five years of being in the country. Some of them didn’t last very long. Some of them were definitely forgettable.

It’s definitely very different than America where, you know, once you’re president you get those four years. It’s not that way in Japan. And go to Wikipedia, and take, you know the 30 minutes it takes to read about the election process in Japan and the government in Japan. Just know a little bit about the country you’re gonna go live in. Um, you know and definitely learn the name of the prime minister, and, uh, you know, definitely, it’s interesting to be in Japan. All my kids, you know, and I teach fairly young kids, all knew President Bush and then, of course, they knew Barack Obama. About England, it was interesting, I gave a quiz question: “What is the name of the Queen of England?” And I gave 3 choices: Elizabeth, Beatrice, and Helen. And I made up numbers. Well, of course, Elizabeth, I used the second. And most of the kids knew her name. But if you had asked any of my kids, “Who’s the Prime Minister of England?” None of them could have told you. So, I’m not saying that, you know, that it doesn’t go both ways, etc. That there’s not cultural ignorance on all sides. And I couldn't stand her and tell you who the Prime Minister of New Zealand is currently. I mean I just don't know. But um, you know, if you're gonna go live in that country I think it it it really is up to you to try and learn a little bit about that country. And you should follow this story. I think it's gonna be interesting. Hopefully a few Japan vloggers, um, you know, I know some of you shy away from discussing politics but will at least maybe comment on what it's like in the country. Ah, you know, how your Japanese friends, etc. have reacted to this situation, and if anything really does change, it'll be interesting to watch. OK? So that was it. Peace from America. And I'll talk to you soon.


to be continued...