East Asia News & Politics Thread: China, South Korea, Japan...

Japan and America are both developed countries, though. Japan not only has a relatively highly educated population, it also doesn't have a press that is anywhere as restricted as China's.

From what I understand, most Japanese people expect their media to portray an independent perspective, hence the furor when their public broadcaster had a blatant right-wing ultracon ideologue appointed as its new chairman by Abe. What society actually hears and learns is heavily restricted and controlled in China in a way it is not in Japan. Ultranationalist government stances must be much easier when people are only able to access one side of the story.

China doesn't seem very comparable to Japan, but I don't have detailed knowledge of politics in either country, though.

Ok, I think we're getting to a kind of thing I wouldn't want to see here discussed. Stop with the "country X is democratic, country Y is a dictatorship" thing. I don't want to see this developing into a flame war.

Firstly, my comment was a joke, and I have no wish to start a flame war. If I offended anyone, I apologize.

Secondly, editerguy didn't really say anything wrong. He stated that 1.) China's media is more restrictive than Japan's 2.) China is not a democracy, specifically not in the sense that Japan is, and 3.) There are more highly educated Japanese people in proportion to the total population than there are highly educated Chinese people to their total population.

These are not insults, these are verifiable facts. If someone gets angry over them, it is not editerguy's responsibility to censor himself so other people can feel better about themselves. Tack on the fact that he admitted that he doesn't have extensive knowledge on either country's politics, and is therefore most likely willing to be proven wrong, if what he stated was indeed incorrect. I see no intent to start a flame war from anyone.

edited 9th Aug '14 8:23:06 PM by EastN

Very well, then. Carry on.

Someone's seem to be a bit...misguided with Japan right now. Japan is most definitely unlike the US because for most of its existence one party won the elections. The opposition won briefly during the early 90s and in the late 2000s (up to early 2010s), and they're most definitely quite different parties, rather than the "two sides of the same coin" someone has been insisting on.

And both the extreme left and extreme right have representatives in the diet throughout the years...does the US Communist Party even get a congressman?

I don't think so. They did local rep at best. Congress is too dominated by Democrats and Republicans alike.

edited 9th Aug '14 10:13:52 PM by Ominae

One thing worth noting about Japanese parties - they tend to be strongly dominated by internal factionalism. Most political flux happens inside the parties, not between them.

@East N

Yes that's exactly what I was trying to say, including my willingness to be corrected if I'm wrong. I wasn't trying to insult any country. Thanks for expressing my points better than I did.

@Septimus Heap

Yeah, I've read that often times the factions are so different within the LDP that they are essentially separate parties, much like today's Republicans and Tea Partiers in America.

@editerguy

No problem, man!

edited 10th Aug '14 5:54:35 AM by EastN

Quag, you don't get to dictate what people can and cannot discuss in this thread.

Sorry, shouldn't have written such a strong worded sentence like that.

However, personally, I'd just like to say that I'm getting a bit tired of the whole 'Japan, WWII, revisionism' thing. It's the one matter that tends to be discussed a lot here, and people here tend to reach the same conclusions.

But, anyway, let's carry on.

edited 10th Aug '14 7:07:21 AM by Quag15

Regardless, you're not a mod. You have no right to dictate others not to discuss topics that you're "tired of". If you don't like a topic, you don't have to contribute or discuss it. If you think that there's a flame war going on, you can holler a mod. You have no authority to keep doing this "I don't like this topic can we stop" thing even over in Yack Fest.

@ Japanese politics: I always thought it strange to hear that the current party in power is in power for the first time since ages (where a Japanese I know told me that makes them difficult to deal with the Fukushima crisis simply because the current party in power lacked the contacts the now-opposition has).

And with our worst PM ever in power at the moment here in Australia, I can see how even in a democratic country you can still get politicians in power that no one actually wants because politics isn't never as clear-cut as that, so I never blamed the Japanese people for what their politicians do.

edited 10th Aug '14 7:44:41 AM by IraTheSquire

As I've said above, I apologize, I am sorry, and I'll shut up.

No, but really, let's keep beating the "things Quag isn't allowed to do in here" dead horse. You guys aren't mods either, you know.

Yes, Quag has displayed remorse that was above and beyond the call of duty. Let all his sins be forgiven, and whatnot.

On the topic of East Asia....I got nothing. Although, the point Ira raises is interesting. I was under the impression that Abe and his government belong to the LDP, which is the party that has dominated Japanese politics. Are you sure your information isn't a bit old?

Yeah, it was significant that the LDP beat back the DPJ in the Diet elections a few years ago.

One can only speculate if their recent actions will allow the DPJ to win again.

China’s Political Spectrum under Xi Jinping. A fine article. Here's a picture that sums it up◊.

China Needs to Get Busy Marketing BRICS Bank.

Women: The Economic Saviors of Japan?

There's some articles released by Kyodo News Agency that announced warning for Japanese nationals in the delegation in the Youth Olympic Games to not wear their official uniforms outside of sports venue grounds and the village for fears that a Chinese nationalist may go and beat them up.

http://postimg.org/image/f9skgi6qx/

A summary of the Japanese Defense White Paper in 2014.

In regards to the Japanese whining about Article 9, how can they achieve what they want by sending the JSDF abroad: If I remember correctly, Japan's current population wasn't as big as it was prior to the Second Sino Japanese War.

edited 18th Aug '14 4:21:59 AM by HallowHawk

There isn't a permanent article in Article 9 that can allow limited deployment of JSDF troops overseas. The Diet always has to meet and pass a law to do that.

edited 18th Aug '14 4:26:06 AM by Ominae

But what's with all the hubbah about changing it to allow more troops being deployed abroad, which is why we ended up talking about war crimes. I mean, how many troops are needed for peacekeeping missions anyways?

Well Japan wants to be in a reformed Security Council, which means they need to show signs of peacekeepers (police and JSDF) and their ranking isn't good. I imagine that even the Americans are in the SC and yet, they have limited participation.

As for the number of troops... In Japan's case, the SC will ask them to send in JSDF troops in a PKO. Numbers will depend on the force commander's needs.

Depends on the mission...

and Thanks