The Art of Governing Democratically

The Lady never again wants to stand with the American President

I am an American living in Japan. The city where I live is Shizuoka so not Tokyo which was the largest city in the world. We say that for the population, but other cities in the world are similar like São Paulo, Brazil. I met Brazilians in Japan my first couple years in Hamamatsu. That city and this are both within Shizuoka Prefecture ( 静岡県 ). I met Japanese people in Hamamatsu who see a bit of a rivalry. The City of Shizuoka is the seat of government, so the Hamamatsu folk say they have more industry like motorcycles and keyboard musical instruments. One brand name does both - Yamaha. Those folk thought “we have the industry, so they (Shizuoka) collect the taxes and can have the culture like the Prefectural Art Museum “ which has a permanent Rodan exhibit.

I say all that just to keep introducing myself, but I am American. I don’t know too much about the government of the country where I live, but allow me to compare. Just asking. Could my dear reader think that Japan’s government is more democratic than that of the United States? It is, like the United Kingdom, a parliamentary style democracy. The lady who is the Prime Minister of the moment is someone I, even as a foreigner, could see coming. It was as if she were waiting in line ready to take her turn.

In Japanese we say the family name before the given name, so she is Takaichi Sanae san. What has she done? She visited the American President, the Twice Impeached American President of the moment. She showed respect. I remember Truman when he fired MacArthur saying “You respect not the man but the office.” Prime Minister Takaichi did that, and respectfully asked why such an ally as Japan was not notified before the U.S. attacked Iran. Can we recall the response? I want to use quotes but don’t know the exact words. “Why didn’t you warn me before attacking Pearl Harbor?” I hope I am not the only one who can see how that poor man’s logic fails. Warn him for a historical event that happened before either of them had been born? He also insulted her English language skills which may be better than his.

What has she done for Japan. She called an Iranian leader and spoke of when in 1953, the tanker Nissho Maru sailed to Iran and loaded Iranian oil. Britain tried to stop the shipment through legal channels, but the case ultimately failed. The oil reached Japan. So, the same shipping company this many years later has a bigger tanker now, and it is on its way to Japan, and it came through the strait of Hormuz with no problem. Will that tanker take care of driver’s needs in Japan through the summer or even up to U.S. mid term elections?

Another aspect of the Japanese government is, I think, interesting. Usually, the Prime Minister selects cabinet members from members of the legislature. My Japanese wife says sometimes they come from academia. The demo-cratic point of taking from the national legislature is that they had to earn votes from the people. As I actually look at Takaichi san’s cabinet (yes, it is in English), members do not leave their positions in the legislature as they go to a cabinet post.

Would cabinet members coming from the Congress or the Senate be a good thing for the U.S.? I am trying to count, 14 or 16 or 18 such positions. Markwayne Mullin is the last one to leave the Congress for the Cabinet, but he is only acting. I don’t think only acting means he gets paid less. I thought there might be more but no. Of course, Maro Rubio came from the Senate.

I sincerely want my reader to know that there is no way the U.S. is the only democracy. Maybe the other democracies have learned things from the U.S. that the current custodian of my homeland’s government failed to learn at the University of Pennsylvania.