Current location:world >>
VOX POPULI: Our anger must never cool over ‘vital’ political fund
world61People have gathered around
IntroductionWhat aspects of everyday life are deemed to be essential in Japan? And, what, exactly, are “fuyo-fuk ...
What aspects of everyday life are deemed to be essential in Japan? And, what, exactly, are “fuyo-fukyu” (nonessential or non-urgent)?
We were supposed to have learned the difference during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But have we forgotten already?
“Perhaps that is how I can best summarize it,” columnist Takashi Odajima (1956-2022) wrote in his book “Saikan no Uta,” in which he goes through social media posts to glean the zeitgeist of the decade from 2011, the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, to 2020, the year the pandemic began.
As some examples considered to be fuyo-fukyu, Odajima cites the emperor’s birthday celebrations, events such as concerts and plays, and professional sports competitions.
Businesses complied with stay-at-home requests by encouraging their full-time employees to work from home, and schools canceled classes and switched to remote learning.
As for what was judged to be essential and indispensable to everyday life, Odajima observed with mordant irony: “Overcrowded trains, menial jobs for non-regular company workers, politicians’ fund-raising parties, the prime minister’s dinner meetings with supporters, Olympic-related competitive sports events.”
Going through a list of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers involved in the slush fund scandal, I start seething with anger again.
While all of us ordinary citizens were gritting our teeth and giving up what we wanted to do, politicians were holding fund-raisers as usual and secretly amassing a slush fund, their excuse being that free political activity must never be interrupted at any time.
What an act of betrayal. How despicable.
The LDP’s negative attitude regarding the planned Diet's Deliberative Council on Political Ethics has left me speechless.
Still, I must firmly remind the party that the council is not a place for ceremonial “misogi” (purification).
In fact, all the council will do is to provide an opportunity for LDP legislators who have benefited from the slush fund to tell their side of the story.
In any case, the pursuit of truth and their responsibility must continue.
And frustrated and disgusted as I am, I still intend to keep my anger boiling.
Odajima once wrote, “Cherry blossoms die after one week because we Japanese get easily bored.”
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 28
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Stellar Station news portal”。http://kenya.downmusic.org/article-53d599943.html
Related articles
Amtrak train hits pickup truck in upstate New York, 3 dead including child
worldNEW YORK (AP) — A child was among the three victims killed when a passenger train hit a pickup truck ...
【world】
Read moreMidea reports 10% revenue increase in Q1
worldChinese home appliance giant Midea Group saw its revenue rise 10 percent year on year to 106.5 billi ...
【world】
Read moreChinese projects in Philippines yield tangible results, benefit locals
worldOn the eve of the International Labor Day, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian visite ...
【world】
Read more
Popular articles
- Six killed in a 'foiled coup' in Congo, the army says
- A North Carolina man is charged with mailing an antisemitic threat to a Georgia rabbi
- Chinese projects in Philippines yield tangible results, benefit locals
- Chinese vice president meets Argentine foreign minister
- Shooting injures 2 at Missouri high school graduation ceremony
- China extends tariff exemptions on certain US goods until Nov. 30
Latest articles
Not so Cool Britannia! Noel Gallagher gives damning verdict on Keir Starmer
Sickening moment father made his six
China's manufacturing PMI down in April
Oklahoma teen Noah Presgrove's cause of death is revealed
Revealed: Brit tourist, 19, subjected to sex attack in Majorca 'was gang
PSG defender Hernandez needs surgery after rupturing ACL and set to miss Euro 2024
LINKS
- United States defender Sergiño Dest will miss the Copa America. He needs surgery for torn ACL
- Bears waive punter Trenton Gill after drafting Iowa's Tory Taylor
- Hurricanes avoid major injury for DeAngelo and close in on getting Pesce back for Rangers series
- Gisele Bundchen exudes sporty chic in an all
- We're proof cancer is NOT an old person's disease: Two women struck down with the 'C
- JANE GREEN: The shameful truth about Barbra Streisand's acid
- US regulators maintain fishing quota for valuable baby eels, even as Canada struggles with poaching
- Campaign to raise Missouri's minimum wage to $15 an hour confident it will get on the ballot
- Twins center fielder Byron Buxton leaves game against White Sox with sore right knee
- Donald Trump's glamorous aide Margo Martin looks stylish as she heads to court with him in a figure