Its time....

It is known to everyone that the Liberation Democratic PArty (LDP) is a very powerful political pary in Japan it has been dominating the government ever since 1950's, even though the party have dismayed the people they've been held in the position for a lot of times and even if they were off the thrown it was only for some time and was able to regain their position after few years. LDP is a really powerful contender. In fairness to LDP they've done a lot of things for Japan hence, like any other politics power have once again conquered! corruption was found under their supremacy and alike. "Politics will be always Politics" the permanent things in this world are TAX, DEATH, CHANGE and CORRUPTION. One of the problems I can see in Japan politics is not the system but nor the people who are elected but the people who are behind those responsible politicians. Yes, assuming as it may seems this happens to other countries as well. Once you are put in the position, there are a lot and i mean LOTs of times when you consider the voice of other people which are composed of the minorities or the so-called elites. I guess Japan should be more open in terms of its political affairs and should try other things. reform could be a good choice for now, by doing so they LDP can no longer take over and "somehow" spread its crab mentality. LDP made its point and have already done its work and also have proven its worth, but they are no longer in the sense "practical" in Japan today. Moreover, the people must consider a lot more in voting.....(also applies here in our country). I guess it about time for change to happen and reform should it be...but most of all people must learn to be more protective of their nation because even if there is reformation if there is no proper application it will be all useless...........

It's all in the strategy-LDP's continuous power in the house

Like any other electorial campaign LDP have proven that everything lies in right and good MARKETING. They've been entitled in their position as a powerful unit for the last decades and are still surviving even though they have been facing a lot of issues such as graft and corruption and alike. So what is the reason behind their continuous success and the loyalty that have been and still there from the people and their supporters.

It can be seen in the documentary video that LDP have been trying to reach out to the people as far as they could. You can actually compare it to our electoprial campaign here in the Philippines come to think of it. As electorial candidates it is a must that they should come and meet every single peoplein the population and unlike what others have been doing that they seems to be more important than the voter themselves. You can see the dedication and the love for their work.

I agree to what Ethan Scheiner have said. The combine system of Clientelism-bring in patronage people are ideological + centralization is the key to a party's success. Moreover, failure in subnational will lead to failure in the national. You really need to reach out to the minorities. Also, the LDP has the right and proper policy proposals that is the people have been supporting them all these years. It may be sage to say that they can be considered as sweet talkers but with sense.

LDP have put or rather help Japan in economic success so why not support the party if it is been tried and tested, right? This been the norm why LDP have been in the seat. Come to think of it it is like "utang na loob". It is not hard to give your trust to something that is been tried and tested.

This is proven that due to LDPs short comings, to the point that its voter got angry and didn't even want to vote nor support the party and still regain the peoples' votes in the end.

LAstlt, LDP is known for its candidates- Quality candidates, which are former local office holdersc and the supporters it has. LDP has a very strong foundation of unity within its party and has many incumbents as well. They may not be worth the position just like what others are saying because of its shorcomings but they really know how to stand up and gain back the trust that has been wasted by those before them. I truly admire the LDP in its dedicationa and way of looking and acting out on situations-It is really all about the strategy.

Sayonara Pacifist---Konichiwa Military?

image from http://www.dynasticrecords.com/imgs/misc/pnwj.jpg


"The best medicine is prevention"

One of the striking issue Japan have now is the question of bringing back the military in the big scene. It is known that the military was in a way "banned" with the power of Article 9 of Japan's constitution. This is becaus3e of the brutal experience "mistake" of the former Japanese government where Japan have caused tremendous damage not just to other countries but to its country as well. The Article 9 constitution was made to renounce war and promised that Japan will no longer use force in settling any international disputes. Moreover, it is believed that Militarized Japan will not serve any "good" purpose.

There are two sides of the issue. One side is the side of having the constitution change because of the rising power of China which is consider to be a threat and also of North Korea. While the other side is the side where the constitution must be retain because changing the constitution will just bring back the nightmares of World War II. Moreover, it is believed that using peaceful means in settling dispute is idealistic at the same time realistic so there is no need to bring back the support to the military just like before.

Being an Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Officer and a Reservist of our country I can feel sympathy for those who wanted to change the Article 9 of the Japan Constitution. Just like Japan, right now we are still trying to fight for bringing back ROTC in the main stream meaning having Mandatory ROTC once again. This is because from the emerging terrorist threats we do not know when will these groups will make a big step to take over our democracy and implement their Netopia called communism. Another thing here is that we do not know how large the enemy already is and if how strong the strength (military) and also if it is enough to manage this emerging threats.

Two years ago I was able to meet a British foreigner who i happened to have a conversation with,. He was shock to know that even though I am a female i engaged myself in the military service. He cannot understand why such "organization" exist. Furthermore, he told me that in London only Special groups are entitled to use guns and as for their police they are only entitled to bring tonfas. He explained that if there is no one to initiate violence then there will be no violence at all. The answer to violence is also violence,s o it will be a never ending one until one side will drop down the gun and settle things in an orderly manner, he added. This guy really has a point and this question got stuck in my head. Until I've enrolled in INTFILO under Sir Gojocco, where he explained that the idea of "every people is good" is inevitable and at the same time questionable. Because one thing is for sure, what one person may think may defer from other person's way of thinking so no consensus can be achieved if there will be no settlements and conversations to be made. My point here is that even though we would want to think that peace is better and it is attainable if we just stop practicing violence, we are still not sure of this for the fact that what we may think is right is not right for other people and may counter and even use the chance of incapability to take advantage of this matter.

The change of the constitution doesn't mean that Japan will already engage to war. People tend to assume on things that are haven't settled yet. Moreover, the strength of Japan is not yet enough to have an army of their own. In the issue of why does Japan kept on saying that they have lesser budget for the military if in fact the amount they're using is way bigger than China's budget is out of the question. It is because for one, even thought Japan has this budget for their military there are not enough man power to operate it meaning even if they have good technology if there is no one to manage it, then it will be useful.

Japan being a Pacifist country really did made a lot of changes to its country. There is no question on if the Japan will wage war to other countries, this is because they have learned their lesson and they know how cruel it is for something like World War II to happen again and they have proven their selves of managing in settling disputes through peaceful settlements.Hence, we do not know if this Pacifism be able to manage other countries to wage war over Japan and if this happens what defense Japan has?---for what i see,it will be a lousy defense. So a change of the constitution is really a need for this country for the future generations.

The failure of having a consensus if the constitution will be changed or not lies on the people. This kind of problem cannot be decided over night for once again it will change the history and in a way the culture of Japan. The argument of "afraid not to please the other sector" is a weak argument for it is not the sector they must prioritize but the country itself-Japan

Rashomon and Japanese Politics alike?

One good characteristic of the Japanese is that they are able to get an idea out of its core and eventually make it Japanese. Japanese Politics' value system and system structure were both compromise and in both traditional and modern elements. However, it can lack internal resources to change its political system. From Takeshi Ishida's book Japanese Political Culture he divided the development of Japan into two stages.
First, The period starting from the Meiji Restoration up to the end of World War II. It was the turning point in Japanese History, when the Samurai from han ousted the Bakufu and proclaimed the restoration of power to the imperial dynasty which reigned in japan for almost thousands of years. The momentous changes were followed by the ending of the traditional Samurai monopoly of military service in 1873. After which various changes in the government were implemented as thought to be something that would make Japan a better state.And, lastly, the period when of Japan's defeat in World War II up to the present. In this period was already the rising of modern Japan.

Japanese Politics is as complicated as other politics there is. As different personnel tries to held up to power, Politics it self is already making ways for its own political interest. The simple logic I can use to understand this clearly is that, there are a lot of things that is only good only when it is at its best and is useless if it has none.

The movie Roshomon on the other hand, is a film about a wife who got raped and her husband being murdered. There were witnesses in this scene, the rapist himself, a medium and the dead man. The movie was set in a way where the viewers will think of the answer to the question--"What really happened in the story?" Why am I trying to put these two different topics into one? Primarily because Japanese Politics and Rashomon are similar in a lot of ways. One of these similarities is that like Japanese Politics, there are a lot of versions of it and only the people are to decide whatever they would like to believe in. Japan lacked the internal resources to its political system until it was defeated by the allied forces. Japan introduced various reforms ordered by the occupation authorities. Hence, the attitude of conformity and competition was stable enough to Japanese Politics despite its social changes before and after WWII. Moreover, Like the Samurai's wife she was only as good as her importance to his husband. Japan is a very powerful country and, so with its leaders they only considering thing s t be important only if it is useful to them. This has been proven in Japanese History when leaders are to change sides just to fulfill their own interest. Another similarities that I can see is that like the woodcutter and the commoner in the movie Rashomon, Japanese Politics would work hard just to cover up its flaws. It tries to portray a very string government even if it is really not. In fairness to Japanese Politics it is really indeed a good move to exercise deceit to avoid chaos and alike. And lastly, I imagined the priest in the Roshomon movie as something to be compared to Japan's image of Gandhi, where they project ultranationalism and used nonviolent action as a mean to carry out social change toward realization of justice.

Why or Why not? (Jagopol Online Session 1)

Comparing or Comparison is one way knowing the flaw of something. By doing so, you can criticize whether a decision is wrong or not. Furthermore, it allows us to discover more about other things around us on how things are alike or different.

In Comparing Countries we can discover why some countries are better off than the other, and or why some countries are alike. From the book "Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics"By Todd Landman , he explains than comparing countries is one good way of analyzing how countries were able to came to be on their success and failures, it is more of a behavioral thing where the outcome depends on how the people involved acts as actors. Moreover, being able to classify the differences and similarities of other countries can make the world of politics less complex as it is already is. Also, it will be easier to make future predictions on countries that are bound to experience the same struggles or success of other countries. Even though Todd Landman made a very good argument, I believe that comparing one country from another is not enough to be able to predict its future. Yes, there is a possibility for it to happen but it is as great as the possibility for it not to happen as well.

Among all other countries, I firmly believe that Japan is one of the important state besides the United States. It is an innovative state where it embraces all changes that suits its needs and development. Other than being important, it is surely impressive for having a very "colorful" political experiences. When I say colorful meaning it experienced a lot of changes in its government for the last centuries and still it was able to cope up with the changes, because unlike other countries Japan was able to embraced the changes that is happening to them as they flow along with it. Moreover, Japan's politics is not that different with other states and it also it experienced a lot of success and failures where other countries can really learn from. One example of this is after the WWII, where after few years time they were able to stand up and even made it to top of the economy among other countries.