Ichigen koji (275)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

A certain media outlet asked me to review some book about the South Korean presidential election. When I asked them if I could choose the book to review, they told me to choose whichever book I liked from my perspective. When I asked them if they would accept a book with a slanted viewpoint, they said that would be fine. I accepted the job on those terms. But then they told me I couldn’t use the book I selected.

- Kimura Kan, Kobe University professor

Ichigen koji (272)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

Whenever the Emperor is brought up, the Japanese dispense with reason and lose their capacity for judgment. The Japan that existed before the Second World War again shows its face. It’s the same with the Japanese government and their attitude that they can’t let anyone say one word about the Emperor.

- A Choson Ilbo editorial

Ichigen koji (273)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

That portion of the elite capable of performing a role globally will in the future become detached from most of the low income group. Opinions on whether this type of society should be permitted are probably divided. But the age in which people called for prosperity for everyone is over.

- The Tweeter known as Galois225

Ichigen koji (271)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

There has been a lot of discussion in South Korea recently that they’ve succumbed to the “Japanese Disease”. But the vast majority believes they can overcome it if they boost the growth rate. Whenever I ask South Koreans about the lack of manpower due to the aging of society, they say they can overcome their demographic problems by bringing in a large number of people from China and elsewhere. Most people answer, “All we have to do is utilize people from North Korea and China.”

- Suzuoki Takabumi of the Nikkei Shimbun

Ichigen koji (270)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

I do not repudiate either the “post-nation state” or regional devolution. It might be that the bright future for mankind is a borderless aggregation of free individuals. But that is a world of self-responsibility requiring extreme self-sufficiency with considerable costs. It is not frivolous behavior that resembles a son having an argument with his father, storming out of the house, and demanding that he keep sending money.

- Baba Masahiro

Ichigen koji (269)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

The nations that flourish are those which do not emphasize the state, but understand the grammar of a globalized world, with its flow of exceptional people who can transcend borders, that which is necessary, and chic information. That is different from the past, when the great powers with their military forces competed to obtain colonies.

People in Japan often talk about becoming a “normal country”, but that is an old, out-of-date model. Japan was late to ride the wave of civilization with the Internet and globalization. It also has difficulty keeping up with the contemporary grammar of civilization that includes harmonious coexistence and networks. That means there is a danger Japan will recede farther and farther away from the path towards prosperity.

- Mogi Ken’ichiro, brain scientist, senior researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and multi-million-dollar tax cheat now prohibited from appearing on NHK-TV.

Ichigen koji (268)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

Women in their 20s always make a particularly bad choice when selecting from among the young men who approach them and give them attention. They’ve refined their eye for selecting men by the time they’re in their 30s, and they will approach good men themselves. But those men are already with another woman, so it’s very difficult for the new women to supplant them. Actually, I think it should be the other way around, but…

- Fujisawa Kazuki

Ichigen koji (267)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

Those people opposed to participation in the TPP negotiations do so on the premise that Japan will absolutely lose. In that case, can we win with in a free trade agreement with China and South Korea, the EPA/EIA with the EU, or the RCEP with ASEAN? We won’t know unless we try. The key is what happens when the treaty provisions are written into national law at the end of the process. It would be pointless to sign a treaty without the attendant domestic law.

- Takahashi Yoichi, economic advisor to the Japan Restoration Party, Your Party, and others

Ichigen koji (266)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

I’m quickly putting together a paper on the Japanese population in South Korea. The more I conduct research, the more it appears that the presence of the Unification Church is the decisive factor. If what I’ve heard can be believed, there are roughly 7,000 Japanese women now living in South Korea. About 30% of that total, and 70% of all international marriages (with Japanese) are related to the Unification Church.

- Kimura Kan, Kobe University professor

Ichigen koji (265)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

From the global perspective, both the Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party are “big government”. The problem is the mid-range welfare benefits with a small taxpayer burden. That makes us an advanced “fiscal child abuse” country which forces excessive burdens on the younger generations and future generations.

- Oguro Kazumasa

Ichigen koji (264)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

I’ve never watched a political discussion program on television. In the past, I had to put together so many those programs I grew to hate it. That’s because nowhere else will you hear conversations with so little content and so much insincerity.

- Ikeda Nobuo, former NHK producer

Ichigen koji (263)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

Most of the Anglosphere media refers to Japan’s Land Self-Defense Forces as the Army, and the Maritime Self-Defense Forces as the Navy. That’s probably to make it easier for their readers. Why then do they so faithfully use the formal name of the People’s Liberation Army for the Chinese forces?

- The Tweeter known as Aceface

Ichigen koji (262)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

If I were to write that “orthodox economists tell Mr. Abe (Shinzo) to stop his dangerous gamble”, some people would get angry and ask what orthodox is supposed to mean. What should I write then? The reaction would be even fiercer if I wrote “mainstream”. “Of sound mind” is also probably out of the question. People might get angry even if I wrote “economists who have received proper academic training”.

- Ushioda Michio

Ichigen koji (261)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

Look at Greece. When you let public employees and public employees’ unions get away with everything, the country collapses.

- Osaka Mayor Hashimoto Toru

Ichigen koji (260)

一言居士
– A person who has something to say about everything

The closer it gets to election time, the more overtly the candidates criticize their opponents. They also beautify and justify their past behavior. What Japan needs for the future is not honeyed words or a litany of personal grudges. Rather it is to present and implement sound policies.

- Nishino Shuhei