Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Japan and jisatsu
Japan's Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka has died in hospital after apparently committing suicide.
The 62-year-old was found hanged in his Tokyo apartment hours before he was to face questions in parliament over his links to a political funding scandal.
from bbc.co.uk
***
And there it is: Japan returns to Edo-period politics, courtesy of embattled Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka. I must admit, Britain would have been much better off if Michael Howard had taken a leaf out of this guy's book about twelve years ago. I astounded my students by explaining to them that a British Minister in this position would simply have denied everything, been sent down for two years, served eight months, then come out and made a pile of cash selling his story to the News of the Screws. (Click here if you absolutely have to.)
Further musing: Japan and suicide...
I asked my students what aspects of Japan they thought were the most well known in foreign countries. As usual they opted for "delicious food."
Between gritted teeth, I explained to them that Japanese food does not enjoy such fame (their jaws fell open), whereas the Japanese propensity for killing oneself is the stuff of legend: samurai and their retainers cutting open their stomachs, young men trying to crash their planes into the enemy, angst-ridden salaryman cocking up the running of the keihan line with their inconvenient torsos, and so on and so forth.
My non-gourmands seemed a bit surprised to hear this.
***
(For previous article on the kamikaze, "The wings of the winds of God", March 2006, click here)
The 62-year-old was found hanged in his Tokyo apartment hours before he was to face questions in parliament over his links to a political funding scandal.
from bbc.co.uk
***
And there it is: Japan returns to Edo-period politics, courtesy of embattled Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka. I must admit, Britain would have been much better off if Michael Howard had taken a leaf out of this guy's book about twelve years ago. I astounded my students by explaining to them that a British Minister in this position would simply have denied everything, been sent down for two years, served eight months, then come out and made a pile of cash selling his story to the News of the Screws. (Click here if you absolutely have to.)
Further musing: Japan and suicide...
I asked my students what aspects of Japan they thought were the most well known in foreign countries. As usual they opted for "delicious food."
Between gritted teeth, I explained to them that Japanese food does not enjoy such fame (their jaws fell open), whereas the Japanese propensity for killing oneself is the stuff of legend: samurai and their retainers cutting open their stomachs, young men trying to crash their planes into the enemy, angst-ridden salaryman cocking up the running of the keihan line with their inconvenient torsos, and so on and so forth.
My non-gourmands seemed a bit surprised to hear this.
***
(For previous article on the kamikaze, "The wings of the winds of God", March 2006, click here)
Labels: BUNKA
