Our first stop in Japan takes us to a growing scandal in the august and deliberative bodies of the Diet that threatens to tear apart the delicate balance of civil legislation:
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi scolded rookie lawmakers Thursday for reading comic books and talking on their cell phones during legislative sessions, according to a newspaper report. The national Asahi newspaper said Koizumi scolded 30 first-term lawmakers from his Liberal Democratic Party during a luncheon."Don't send e-mail on your cell phones or read comic books in Parliament while in session," Koizumi was quoted as saying.
We can better understand why the Japanese people have believed for decades that politics is sequestered from their world, indeed "the game across the street." No word on the names of superheroes whose exploits these remiss MPs were indulging in.
Skylarking greenhorns aside, Japan's power, influence, confidence and sense of moral responsibility continues to grow — and the world is beginning to take notice. The Asia Times has reviewed a book recently published by author John Nathan on Japan's broadening horizons and growing pains alike. Some of those pains include Japan's often cartoonishly brazen advertising at the expense of thin-skinned special interests. Take, for example, Great Buddha Boogers:
| One of Japan's most famous Buddhist temples is up in arms over a company's sale of sweets it calls "Great Buddha Boogers," the Mainichi has learned. Buddhist priests at Todaiji Temple in the ancient capital of Nara got snotty over the sweets, which come in a package featuring a picture of Buddha picking his nose. They successfully stopped a Nara Prefecture company from continuing to use the controversial title as a trademark by successfully arguing that it offended believers. |  |
Never a richer, more unpredictable place. Also on the Mainichi Shimbun is this week's Photojournal, with a Japanese volleyball win, a cell phone designed for easier misplacement, Sony's nod to music as binary property and a serenade in East Timor.