politics

Kan farewells cabinet; tells them to get ready to resign

23 Comments

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23 Comments
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Ah, no doubt the new cabinet will contain a nice mixture of men and women of all ages and all backgrounds....yeah, dream on! Get ready for another group of 70 year-old, self-interested male gangsters. And people wonder why nothing ever changes in Japan.....Noda, Kan, Fukuda, Abe....does it even matter anymore?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

And so the best prime minister that Japan has had in ages resigns. It makes me wonder: What do Japanese people want from their prime minister? "Lack of leadership" - well, du-uh, here comes a prime minister who for once actually SHOWS leadership and not just bows to fuzzy consensus-must-agree-with-everybody decision making, and you throw THAT at him! How about showing an understanding for how incredibly corrupt and self-serving the bureaucrats are, they are the ones who have been hampering him at every step!

Do people really think that any of the other oji-sans would have fared better with the March 11 disaster? Tanigaki? Oh please...

7 ( +8 / -1 )

"farewell" as a verb? What's up with that? "Says farewell to Cabinet" would do as well.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I farewell them as well for a fraction of his salary...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

farewell parties!!!!!! i can see them now. drunk ojiis telling stupid jokes and getting all sloppy and maudlin

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Just imagine. If 3/11 never happened, this news would be pretty much the same!

I think Kan was good for Japan, but I admit I only think that because of his anti-nuke stance. But what else does a Japanese PM really do anyway? Nothing is going to change with the next PM except a rolling back of the anti-nuke stance. And that will be a travesty. Mankind just isn't responsible enough for it, especially in a disaster prone place like Japan.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

while i admire mr. kan's idealism, he lacked the necessary political skills to achieve anything substantial. granted, he was up against ozawa and a sprawling beauracracy, but dreams without a plan will always be just dreams.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Resign?? They must be imprisoned. All of them! They are all guilty of this and have blood on their hands. Better yet, send them all to Fukushima Daiichi to do manual labor. I am not joking. They carry the responsibility, do not let them get away. Especially Kan and Edano.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

How will outing the PM fix Japan's problems?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

tells them to get ready to resign

Is that a Japanese euphemism for "get the paper shredders warmed up"?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

JT team, I think this goes in the "Resigning PMs", it's not politics anymore, we are all really bored of reading this same old story.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The usage is correct.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

As one of Japanese silent majority's point of view, I would like to share the things I know behind the news...

As you know, the current Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a historical and land-slide victory over Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2009 and the LDP has supported nuclear power plant. It was the first time that LDP lost after World War II and it was the first time for DPJ to create a new system... However, LDP power still remained DPJ has suffered to create new system..

And in DPJ, Prime minister Kan (DPJ) was the first one who has attempted to curtail bureaucracy's power. But remember that all power still remained in the top in media, politicians, and companies in Japan. As the result, many newspapers did not write about his good actions, rather they made fun of him, as you have seen in other news.

He later shared to the public that he could not receive enough information about 311 immidiatly too. He had supported nuclear power plant as other politicians until 311accident. But he realized that even if it is said "very safe", he found that people can't control them yet and it is NOT safe so he decided to support nuclear free future in Japan.

However again many media did not share this news positively. I have seen many people (perhaps LDP supporters) started to blame Mr. Kan and his supporters in inappropriate and rude words in the internet. The words are just like bullying. This inappropriate actions gave fear to many ordinary people to share real comments in front of people. Many feel we may be loosing freedom of speech.

None of new candidates support nuclear free future (yet). If the government back to LDP, Japan contine to be unchanged...but non leaders in DPJ also can't state clearly as Mr.Kan has done. Well, since most voters are still above 50 years old so perhaps they would like Japan to remain in the past, their good old days. As a Japanese, I would like to see the reality and want this country to choose a better way...

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The cabinet has to resign? That must be a bit of a shock for them. They were expecting him to resign so they can carry on with their monkey business as usual. There will be a few drunk people in Tokyo this week.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

He was being thwarted at every turn, beauracrats dragging their feet or just not doing their job and blaming Kan. His own party controlled by Ozawa undermining him at every opportune moment. Pathetic and childish they fail to understand that in this day and age the world is watching shaking their heads but more and more chuckling at the absurdity of it all. Why on earth are people still in shelters 6 months on? Corruption and incompetence. And that sums it up I think. Kan hope you can relax and retire overseas. There is nothing here for you.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I like Kan. I think he's the most sincere guy we've had around for quite a while. Yes, things are messed up post March the 11th but I don't think he is solely to blame. The rabble that call themselves politicians here distracted him from tackling important agendas. I really don't have any confidence that things are going to get any better.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The cycle starts again, I give the new PM less than 6 months. Then in a year it will happen again and again. One last time PM Kan stay the course! Your country needs you!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I'm not very knowledgeable about parliamentary procedure... What would Kan need to call a snap election? Talk about sending one last "up yours" to Ozawa...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

OBTW - I just looked up "farewell" and saw that it is indeed a verb transitive. The headline is proper usage, though it's rarely heard that way outside of Australia and New Zealand. LSNED.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I would like to see the reality and want this country to choose a better way...

Well said,abbeymayu. Japan is tanking without any real solutions. I have been frustrated as well as everyone on JT.

Pray for Japan

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@John Becker

I'm going to guess it's like my Canadian Parliament. Like most Parliaments like the Diet, if the leader of a ruling party steps down, then someone else in the ruling party who becomes the leader then becomes the PM. It doesn't mean the DPJ has to step down for an election. True, often one is called to legitimize the changeover, but it's technically not required.

There would be a by-election in the riding for Kan if he totally leaves office, and if so the new winner goes to Parliament. But not as PM. Just representing the area seat.

Control of the government is based on the number of seats in the Diet, not who is leading. This is why Japan can have a dozen PM's a week and the government wouldn't fall.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'll look it up later. But I'm sure someone can correct how this differs in Japan

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan goes through Prime Ministers like Illinois goes through Governers. The only difference is that our Governers end up in jail.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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