Will_Rendle comments

Geeter MckluskieToday  08:01 pm JST

Sohei Kamiya, Sanseito's party leader:

“If you take in more and more foreigners, saying they’re cheap labour, then Japanese people’s wages won’t rise.”

He's got a bit of sense then, but what ideas has he got for actually getting employees to raise wages? They don't just go up by themselves.

HopeSpringsEternalToday  06:29 pm JST

Only way for Japan to achieve serious economic growth is via the private sector, while downsizing the public sector and based upon PM Takaishi's massive spending plans and rapidly rising JGB yields, it's NOT happening

Govt. led AI initiatives in news today, more proof Japan's become socialist, market animal spirits are gone, legacy private sector unable to take risk, reliance on Govt etc.

The private sector in Japan always owed its success to collusion with politicians and government ministry bureaucrats in the public sector, the "iron triangle" of politicians influencing bureaucrats to award public works contracts to the businesses that supported the politicians. It was all well and good when there was a lot of rebuilding to be done and everyone needed to pull together. Unfortunately the people running the private sector now are still stuck in that mindset and think whatever worked fifty years ago will still work today. This is what they want though, because really the politicians are reliant on them. The only hope for the private sector is if a whole new generation with new ideas and new attitudes takes over from the old Showa-era men.

Geeter MckluskieToday  03:46 pm JST

"Until Japanese employers offer better salaries and working conditions they'll need immigrants to do all the difficult, low-paid jobs that young Japanese people turn their noses up at."

Japanese did those jobs in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s when Japan experienced its economic boom.

Yes, did. Past tense. Now employers prefer to cut costs and hire immigrants but you'll never hear anyone in Sanseito criticising that.

Geeter MckluskieToday  02:37 pm JST

Sanseito's rise in popularity has made the LDP take notice of crucial issues such as immigration...

Until Japanese employers offer better salaries and working conditions they'll need immigrants to do all the difficult, low-paid jobs that young Japanese people turn their noses up at. They're also useful scapegoats for politicians because it's not politically expedient to point fingers at people they rely on to vote for them, fund their election campaigns and get employees to vote for them too.

raincloudToday  12:50 pm JST

I feel like her popularity is largely due to her stating the fact that Taiwan is not a part of China--which sadly for those too brainwashed to realise it, is the truth.

I think she'd better build up a better resume than that if she wants to stay popular. Stating what she's going to do for ordinary Japanese people and then actually doing it would be a good start.

OssanAmericaToday  08:40 am JST

A rating most politicians in the world would dream of.

You can tell yourself that but I doubt Takaichi is thrilled to see her support rate start to go down.

Both Ishiba and Kishida managed to pull into the 20s.

They didn't start off with rates in the 20s did they, so that's really a bit of a false equivalnce. Anyway, this is the big problem:

By political party, support stood at 31.1 percent for the LDP, 7.8 percent for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, 7.8 percent for the Democratic Party for the People and 8.0 percent for the Japan Innovation Party.

The LDP can only manage to pull 31.1% support but they can still cling on to power with just over half of all the Diet seats.

itsonlyrocknrollToday  02:03 pm JST

Depopulation is the stand out issue. The gap between young and old is widening into an ever-growing crisis

It's been the stand out issue for decades, and the LDP have been in power for decades but they haven't done anything about it. Takaichi doesn't have any solutions either other than to just keep doing what the LDP always do. That's why I think they're quite glad of having these international flare-ups so they can act all tough on national security and draw attention away from how useless they are at everything else. I think they're useless on national security too btw.

itsonlyrocknrollToday  01:30 pm JST

Will_Rendle, Taiwan is a democracy, its government chosen by the people. 

I do know that.

How long Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi government remains in office is open to debate, the LDP ruling party days could be numbered.

That's a more pertinent observation. Takaichi's popularity spike isn't going to last long if the government doesn't do anything about issues that actually affect people in their daily lives and all the nukes she could ever want will not make any difference.

itsonlyrocknrollToday  12:02 pm JST

Will_Rendle,

I do believe the threat from Xi Jinping’s People's Republic of China is a present and future danger.

I think it's a completely self-inflicted danger.

Xi Jinping government ridiculous disproportionate meltdown to a question posed to Sanae Takaichi in national diet Q & A session is excessive, exaggerated, beyond logical reason.

Takaichi said Japan might take military action over what the Chinese government has always stated to be a purely internal Chinese issue. Others don't see it as such but that's what they say it is. Right or wrong, I think any government would react in a similar fashion if the leader of another country made the same kind of remark about them that Takaichi has. Actual wars, not just harassment, live fire drills, incursions or whatever, have been started by less.

UnderworldToday  09:51 am JST

**Will_Rendle **What the MAGA faithful think is neither here nor there.

I disagree. Trump has never cared if something annoys the left. But if MAGA feel betrayed, it undermines his base and his support.

Well, the MAGA supporters with a bit of decency and integrity should feel betrayed. As for the ones who stand by their man Trump no matter what...

UnderworldToday  09:04 am JST

The MAGA faithful aren't going to be happy.

It's more important how the victims feel:

That approach angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law forced the department to act. Instead of marking the end of a yearslong battle for transparency, the document release Friday was merely the beginning of an indefinite wait for a complete picture of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to investigate them.

“I feel like again the DOJ, the justice system is failing us,” said Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein started sexually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14.

What the MAGA faithful think is neither here nor there.

itsonlyrocknrollToday  07:16 am JST

Also, my political cynicism provokes my questioning the motivation/narrative of Sanae Takaichi cabinet/government.

This “official”, reportedly from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's office briefing Japan broadcast media.

All deflects away from scrutiny, to question Sanae Takaichi's priorities in government, the economy, retail shelf inflation, depopulation, the burgeoning government debt servicing?

Sanae Takaichi spend, spend, spend mentality, Japan social health care for the elderly.

Well, exactly. With all this going on there are people in the government seriously entertaining fantasies about possessing nuclear weapons so they can act all tough and macho around the Chinese, North Koreans and Russians.

USNinJapan2Today  01:43 am JST

Will_Rendle You seem to spend most days writing comments about China's tiresome petulance. Don't you have more important things to do?

No less than you based on your post history.

You've checked all the dates and word counts, then?

And why wouldn't she, or anyone else for that matter, comment on the biggest problem in this region, China?

Work, family, friends, hobbies, other things to worry about, maybe? Like the biggest problems in Japan?

isabelleToday  11:25 pm JST

Personally, I prefer to call out belligerent states, not self-censor and perpetuate their false narratives.

How very admirable. Doesn't achieve a whole lot though.

"If what she said isn't a problem, why doesn't she state it again more clearly and emphatically."

You'd have to ask her.

Perhaps it's because she feels she has made her point.

You might think that. I don't. I think she's been told by the old men pulling her strings to try and keep her big stupid mouth shut until the Chinese forget about all this and it all blows over.

Perhaps it's because she has far more important things to do than deal with China's tiresome petulance every day.

You seem to spend most days writing comments about China's tiresome petulance. Don't you have more important things to do?

Regardless, retracting the comments (as you mentioned in an above post) would be another matter: that would mean she considered them "wrong." She pointedly has not done this, and neither should she.

She also said she wouldn't be making any more similar remarks. What do you suppose that indicates.

isabelleToday  09:23 pm JST

And nor should it be retracted, as it was accurate.

Accurate or not it was a stupid thing to say openly.

The problem here is China's UN Charter-violating threats toward peaceful Taiwan: not Japan stating its legitimate security concerns.

But that's not what happened. Takaichi went off script and made a stupid gaffe like LDP politicians are curiously prone to do. If what she said isn't a problem, why doesn't she state it again more clearly and emphatically.

BeerDeliveryGuyToday  05:36 pm JST

Roger. Because threatening to behead another country’s head of state...

That's a total distortion of what the envoy said, and it doesn't excuse Takaichi's gaffe either.

Moreover it was an overreaction from a low level official and the remark has been deleted. The remark that came from the prime minister of Japan hasn't been retracted.

BeerDeliveryGuyToday  11:35 am JST

Japan threatens no one with war, conventional or nuclear. But Japan must be very clear and unambiguous that it will resolutely defend its people, territories and interests from foreign aggression and coercion.

It won't. Takaichi herself said she would avoid making similar remarks in future. I think the Japanese government is just waiting for the Chinese to stop huffing and puffing about what Takaichi said and hoping this whole embarassing fiasco is forgotten about as just another case of a clueless Japanese politician with a loud mouth.

Unfortunately, Japan’s regional rivals are emotionally immature and lack the diplomatic protocols of other industrialized nations.

Takaichi herself doesn't appear to have much of a grasp of diplomatic protocols though, does she.

OssanAmericaToday  09:45 am JST

Japan posessing nukes will be accepted and likely even cheered by the West.

The West doesn't have to live in Japan. It's the Japanese public who will have to bear the no doubt astronomical costs of developing, manufacturing and maintaining the things, and live with the consequences of escalating tension and hostility in the Asia-Pacific region.

TaiwanIsNotChinaToday  10:08 am JST

Will_RendleToday 08:24 am JST

"Great way to make them even more bullying and bellicose."

In what way. It's not like russia/China/NK have much room to misbehave more.

It almost sounds like you want them to.

Fighto!Today  08:27 am JST

This is the correct decision by Japan.

It's not a decision. It's a right-wing fantasy.

TaiwanIsNotChinaToday  01:57 am JST

Peking sure is stomping up and down a lot for everything being the status quo.

Everyone knows what the CCP are like. If Takaichi couldn't just stay on script instead of saying the first dumb thing that flashed across her clueless sleep-deprived brain what did you expect?

Ryokai

Today 08:16 am JST

Japan having nukes is the only move that makes sense considering it is surrounded by nuclear-armed bullying, bellicose neighbours.

Great way to make them even more bullying and bellicose.

Agent_NeoDec. 17  10:33 pm JST

It's only natural for government spending to increase during a recession.

Oh really. What happens to all the money then? All that spending never seems to produce any tangible benefits.

If management can just increase employee salaries, the Japanese economy will regain momentum along with moderate inflation.

That's an unrealistic expectation of all the unprofitable SMEs that are only staying afloat with low-interest loans. Still, the business owners aren't raising wages but they are somehow finding money to donate to LDP politicians so I suppose it's all okay with you.

OssanAmericaToday  04:23 pm JST

Your wish that it will never be tested is also a personal projection which adds zero value to the discussion. Besides, we all know you are here not to add anything to any discussion but to be a forum voice for the Global Times.

No, that's just what you claim. More of the same crass insinuations that anyone who disagrees with you is a CCP mouthpiece. Is it not enough to just point out why you think they're mistaken?

Communist-led China views the self-ruled democratic island as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary, and sees the Taiwan issue as a purely "internal affair."

China has also been increasing its military activities. Earlier this month, Chinese fighter jets intermittently locked radar on Japanese Air Self-Defense Force aircraft in the Pacific southeast of Okinawa's main island, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.

I think the anti-CCP lot have got it wrong about China's motives here. No doubt the CCP are cruel and autocratic and ruthless but I don't think they're stupid or oblivious to the havoc that actually invading Taiwan would cause. I suspect that they don't like the status quo much but will tolerate it as long as economic ties with Taiwan are still stable and mutually beneficial, at least until a government comes along in Taiwan that's more open to the idea of reunification. All the belligerence and military posturing is just to deter Taiwan from actually declaring independence outright and other countries from supporting them.

"My remarks regarding the survival-threatening situation do not alter the stance held by the past governments," Takaichi said, adding that Japan will "persistently" explain this to China and the international community at various levels.

Her predecessors avoided discussing a specific scenario when answering questions about it.

Right. The Chinese knew what the policy was and they probably weren't thrilled about it but at least none of the previous prime ministers stirred up trouble needlessly by shooting their mouths off about it.

Well, I doubt that with people like Takaichi in charge he'd get any chance to appear as a Japanese army officer in any Japanese films that honestly depicted all the stuff the Japanese army got up to in WW2.

Peeping_TomToday  02:06 pm JST

Dear SeekShinJitsu,

You're going nowhere trying to "argue" with "experts" who believe everyone else is dumb!

It is dumb to undermine your credibility by admitting that you got all your information from AI and then acting all superior and condescending about it.

SeekShinJitsuToday  02:00 pm JST

Will_RendleToday  01:38 pm JST

A bit rude - sure. Presumptuous - no. And I appreciate your admission of being pro-CCP.

Obviously you haven't bothered to read any of my previous comments on this topic.

I used AI to make the most generic and obvious information as comprehendible as possible for someone like you who lack any knowledge of modern geopolitics.

I think that's just being lazy and indicates you don't have much more of a clue than anyone else.

SeekShinJitsu

Today 01:34 pm JST

Will_RendleToday 01:15 pm JSTI'm not belittling you for having a weak grasp of economics.

I'm stating the fact you make blatantly false statements so unapologetically and deny reality when confronted with truth.

Like a lot of these anti-CCP online virtue signallers you're a bit rude and presumptuous, aren't you.

Exactly. Thank you for proving my point

What point? Your comment appears to indicate you got all that information from AI.