Abe pledges reforms, successful Olympics in New Year's statement

More promises that will be broken

So we now know what's not going to happen.

Let's make this clear Abe Shinzo. It's not you who will make the olympics 2020 in Japan a success, it's the tireless contribution made by all the people of Japan that will make this olympic a sucess.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Wednesday to promote reforms in Japan, ranging from social security to the Constitution,

Which number of this pledge? At least it can be counted first one for this year.

A great man leading a great nation.

I feel an urging coming on...

This man has a lot of broken arrows to mend.

"Now we have dynamism toward the future and therefore should powerfully press for building a nation for a new era," Abe said in his New Year's statement.

And in 5 years when this troglodite is out of power and this dynamism (what ever this piffle means) has faded to naught and the pressing has waned to nothing, Abe-kun will be sitting on his pampered duff raking in the cash while the people will be sucking their teeth along with the politicians saying "Gambare, shyoganai desu ne".

The social security coffers have been raided to nothing to fund highways and bridges to nowhere, ministry after ministry has filled their pockets with bribe money, the Japanese tech industry has crumbled, the auto sector is caught in scandals, so hang on and put on those crash helmets for this "new era". It's gonna be a bumpy ride folks.

I think that we all know in whatl area Japan needs reform right now.

As a suggestion yo Abe, a positive reform for Japan would be to dispand and demolish Kieo University.

Isn't that where most of Japan's so-called judges and prosecutor s get supposedly "educated".

Abe: "I pledge to accomplish this year what I have pledged to accomplish each and every year! We will move from our rank, which dropped last year, of 124 or so back to 114! WOMENOMICS! The abduction issue? Pshaw! Resolved tout de suite! Let me just visit the relatives several more times this year. The Olympics? I vow, VOW to make international athletes eat Fukushima produce to PROVE it is safe! We will run the athletes, bearing the torch, through hot zones to prove it's okay. Asbestos? Whasbestos! What's that? We knew about that two years ago and vow to immediately take action! Ecoli in the swimming and water sports areas? We're saving the treatment methods until just before the Games! You'll see! Look... we're the only nation to have suffered nuclear attacks, and sure, we still have people in shelters in Tohoku, but this is to show the world how we've reformed since the disasters which struck and affected us all. And hell, it's the most compact Games in history, from Hokkaido to Tokyo and perhaps even further south. Who knows? The heatwave? bah! The runners and spectators will gaman! Ometanasu! We're going to have the greatest Games ever!"

@smithinjapan: a masterpiece of words. So accurate.

So many more pressing issues in Japan to pray for than a 2 week sporting event. Why does Japan go so gaga over the Olympics? Most other countries are so over hosting it now (the IOC will never admit that though) and don’t want the financial and security burden anymore but Japan still goes all in like it’s still the 1960s. And remember we are now talking about gold medals for golf, skateboarding and surfing here......huh?

Let's make this clear Abe Shinzo. It's not you who will make the olympics 2020 in Japan a success, it's the tireless contribution made by all the people of Japan that will make this olympic a sucess.

Well said.

The politicians will always try to take credit but it's the people here who will make or break it.

I look forward to it, immensely.

The avalanche of issues left behind will separate the Atlantic from the Pacific.