Hatoyama's Resignation – Modern-day Harakiri?

After watching Prime Minister Hatoyama resign this June and join Japan's club of less-than-one-year national leaders, I began to wonder what exactly the point of resignation was. In American history, there has been only one leader to resign his powers—president Richard Nixon in 1974. He resigned after news of the Watergate scandal came to light, an incident in which he was accused of spying on a rival political group. Although this led many Americans to lose trust in their elected officials from that point on, there have been no other resignations. Even Bill Clinton (who faced impeachment hearings in the 1990s over an affair) and George W. Bush (who was accused of lying about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq) did not resign.

In Japan, however, not one prime minister after Koizumi Junichiro has held his post for longer than a year. What is the point in these sudden resignations? Some people have called it a modern version of hara-kiri, or self-disembowelment. In some ways, the analogy is incredibly apt. Hara-kiri was used by samurai in the Edo period to atone for crimes or infractions against the strict Neo-Confucian codes of the time. By taking their own lives, they accepted responsibility for their actions in the most honorable way possible. That, of course, is the idealistic theory behind the act. Realistically speaking, however, a shamed samurai could not effectively function within Japanese society or government. They would have no moral authority, which, in a society governed according to Confucian codes, means they would have no authority at all. Thus, the only logical alternative was to accept a drastic reduction in status or commit hara-kiri.

Of course, modern Japan is not governed by Confucian moral codes but by laws, and beneath them, by influence and consensus. Therefore, even the loss of moral authority should not necessarily condemn a leader. Also, while hara-kiri results in death, political resignations in Japan hardly carry such a serious consequence. In fact, most retired prime ministers either return to public office as regular ministers or return home to enjoy to their large inherited fortunes—not exactly a terrible fate. In this way, resignation is a purely selfish move.

The attitude of the Japanese public towards their politicians is slightly puzzling to foreigners. Hatoyama resigned because public opinion fell drastically after he reneged on a campaign promise to move the US base off of Okinawa—in reality a virtually impossible task to begin with. In the West, however, when a politician fails to keep a campaign promise, he is not viewed with as much animosity.

I once concluded that democracy just doesn't work in Japan, because it is culturally unacceptable for Japanese people. I've come to realize that there's more to it than that. Japanese consider themselves a homogenous society, and the Japanese political system is essentially a one-party system. Thus, when someone has public support, they have a great majority of it, but as soon as they lose some, it all goes down the drain. Thus, like the shamed Edo samurai, they have no authority left to run the government. Perhaps this situation is inevitable in Japanese politics. What do you think of these political resignations?

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The meaning of colors By Gabi

In many cultures, colors play a very important role. Maybe, many of you know some things related to colors in Japanese culture for instance. Let us just recall the samurai era when purple kimono was a privilege for only noble people, those who belonged to the family of the emperor. You might be interested about the reason. As purple is considered to be a color of transcendence it is obvious why the emperor and his family who are considered to be descendents of God enjoyed this privilege. But Japan is not unique in terms of the idea that purple expresses something spiritual, something from a higher dimension. Look at the clothes of high rank priests in the Roman Catholic Church. They all wear purple.

Nevertheless, even if we examine some worldwide spread views originated in India, we will see that purple symbolizes the same theme, the relationship between the physical and transcendental world. You might have heard about the so called chakras, the energy centers of human body. These chakras all have different colors. The one called Third Eye is located on our forehead. It is supposed to work through intuitions, and to see the  divine in everything and everybody. No need to say, its color is purple (indigo). And now, let us just stay with the chakras and find out more about their colors, and therefore what those colors might symbolize in the world of analogies.

The Base chakra stands for ground spirit forces of the body. Its color is red, expressing the basic instincts, our  basic needs and passion about staying alive. Maybe we all agree that red is always associated with fire, blood, fight or love so it symbolizes very strong and powerful energies.
On the next level we can find the orange colored Sacral chakra. This chakra and this color are associated with creativity, and as a part of it, reproduction. Something more than basic needs of a living creature. It stands for something we all want to achieve to remain memorable in the world.
The next one is the level of the yellow Solar Plexus. This chakra represents the center of the body. It holds the energy of the Sun that enables us to realize our goals in life. You might have felt that the sunshine always helpsyou to stay positive and energetic. That is why yellow surroundings help you to study or work more successfully.
And we have arrived to the Heart chakra that brings the peace and harmony of green. If we go to the nature,   it is not by chance that we feel more peaceful and affectionate or benevolent. In many hospitals and schools,  the walls are painted green. Is it only a coincidence or a natural sense of human beings towards the therapeutic effects of green color?
And now, let us move to the blue colored Throat chakra. Maybe even without any background you might guess what this chakra stands for. Throat: communication, the ability to verbalize. Word is a very powerful means of human beings. Let us just remember those people in history who made significant changes only by their speeches.
The Third Eye was already mentioned in the beginning, so it is time to mention the violet colored Crown chakra that stands for the ultimate peace and wisdom, the oneness with the God. This is the key to maintain the channel between our physical existence and the higher dimensions where we also belong. Violet is also a  kind of purple color, no wonder why.

Even if we do not speak of transcendence, we all have favorite colors in clothes, objects around us, the color of the walls in our houses, etc. Why do we prefer certain colors to others? Maybe they express certain qualitieswe hold, or they symbolize the aspects of life we focus on. If you invest time to research on the meaning of colors, you will be surprised how useful it can be to know more about yourself or fill your life with more satisfaction or happiness with the help of colors.

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Btirish Comics By Mathew

                  

　I have read comics for as long as I can remember. My father also read them when he was younger and so as I was learning to read we would sit down in my room and read the Beano, a comic book filled with strips such as Dennis The Menace, Minnie the Mix, Rodger the Dodger and the Bash Street kids. The Dandy, a rival comic by the same publisher DC Thomson, was also a very popular comic staring characters such as Desperate Dan, The Bogies and Banana Man, a  young boy named Eric Wimp who would eat a banana to become a super hero;  much in the same vein as the old cartoon Popeye, who eats spinach to gain strength so he can beat up the bad guys. My favourite character of all though had to be Dennis the Menace, a prototype of Americas best known cartoon boy, Bart Simpson. Dennis' character is that of the archetypical young, mischievous school boy who is always up to no good. Inevitably his dastardly plans go awry and a lesson is learned, providing great slapstick comedy and a moral all children can benefit from. Both The Beano and The Dandy are still in print and are widely known throughout Britain.

　Comics began in England as part of the newspaper print with the first recurring character being published in 1884. At this time comics were mostly political satire for adults, but　quickly broadened their audience to children, typically with educational material. Comics suffered a great deal though due to the majority of the British public believing that comics were just for children, something unheard of in Japan! When comics were first being mass produced in England  in the 1930's and 40's, their sole target audience was children between the ages of 8 and 12. Despite a huge modern adult comic audience though, the public's opinions have changed little.

The first important comic for me was a science fiction magazine called 2000AD which I read when I was about 11 years old. My favourites had to be Rogue Trooper and Judge Dred. This comic made me realise that comics weren't just for children. Judge Dred, a futuristic law enforcer given the role of police, judge, jury and executioner, delved　into issues such as the police state, authoritarianism and the rule of law, big issues relevant to the conservative politics of 1970 -90's Britain. I had found something more than just slapstick playground humour and simple children's morality tales. This was something I could really think about.

  I quickly fell deeper into the comic medium, 2000AD was my gateway into whole new worlds of imagination. English culture breeds a different kind of comic book. The one specific difference between British and American comicsis the depiction of their heroes. American comics focus on their protagonist being a clearly defined 'good guy' who battles and almost always defeats the 'bad guy', much the same as the original Westerns with the Lone Ranger. The overwhelming majority being super heroes with special powers. British comic book protagonists are more often than not Anti Heroes, who blur the boundaries of good and evil and have no real special abilities other than wit and guile.

　My favourite comic character of all would be the notorious renegade journalist Spider Jerusalem by the author Warren Ellis. Spider, from the award winning graphic novel series 'Transmetropolitan', is a contancorous, perpetually smoking alcoholic based on the famous American journalist Hunter S. Thomson. Spider lives in a futuristic world known only as 'the City', where no one knows what year it is, French people are considered a delicacy and anyone's dreams (or nightmares) can and will come true. Spider, armed only with his portable laptop, a bowel disruptor and an infinite cascade of offensive and hilarious metaphors ends up taking on the government and winning. The antagonist, known as 'the Smiler' is loosely based on former British Prime Minister Tony Blare, and is hell bent on stripping people of their rights and freedoms.

  My other favourite comics are Sandman by Neil Gaiman, a supernatural story of Gods and spirits in our modern    world,  Preacher by Garth Ennis, the story of one man's voyage to find and take down God, and V for Vendetta and Watchmen by Alan Moore, which have recently been made into fantastic films.

  If you're interested in comics I would love to hear about your favourites as I don't know much about them in Japan.

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