Quote:
Originally Posted by steven
Cranks, I would like to learn more about "the communists in schools, Korean lobbyists, bureaucratic inertia, etc." Could you elaborate on that?
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mmm, it's a looong story, but in a nutshell,
1 The communists in schools
There is a Japanese teacher's association called 日教組 that consists of 30% of all Japanese school teachers. They are basically a group of communists that opposes any Japanese military action, or even the Japanese flag and anthem. They think Japan should abandon all military forces, and at the same time, they want the US to be out of Japan. They oppose "ALL" Japanese and American military forces.
This kind of communist groups are making it very difficult if not impossible for Japan to take any internationally responsible military action. For example, there is currently no Japanese force in Afghanistan. And if Japan can not take responsible military actions, the US CAN NOT go out of Japan.
2 The Korean lobbyists.
There are 2 major Korean political organizations in Japan. 朝鮮総連(総連) is North Korean, and 韓国民潭(民潭) is South Korean. As you probably guessed it, 総連 is the big problem now so I'll just talk about this one.
総連 is basically a branch of North Korean government in Japan. They run their own schools that teach North Korean propaganda and had a bank called 朝銀信用組合 that dealt only with north koreans. This bank, now bankrupted, was alleged to be sending money to North Korea to support its government. 総連 holds a degree of political influence to Japanese government through lobbying. For example, When 朝銀 became bankrupt, about a billion US dollars worth of tax money was thrown into it despite the alleged illegal money transfers and the fact that it does business exclusively with North Koreans. Another example is the recent Japanese government's announcement that their schools, 朝鮮学校, will be subsidized 100% by the government even though they are not legally considered schools due to it's curriculum. Having North Korean influence in the government is a serious problem especially when it comes to defense issues.
3 Bureaucratic inertia
Well, I guess we all know about this one, 天下り and all, but if I am to bring up one example, it will be cars. I own a Jeep Wrangler in the states. I payed $22k for the car, about $1000 for the sales tax and around $500 for the first year's registration. I got a license here too and it costed me about 30 bucks. In Japan though, I would need to pay freaking 4 different taxes, 消費税, 自動車税, 自動車重量税 and 自動車取得税 which probably would add up to $4000 or so. I would also need to prove that I had a space to keep the car. 車検 (vehicle inspection) every 2 to 3 years is mandatory. Getting a license costs $2000 and 60 hours of classes and driving sessions. A lot of roads are toll roads, and you have go through the gates at walking speed. They are complaining that the car sales is record low in Japan, but It seems to me they actually want to ban cars. You can't expect to expand domestic market with the policies like this.