Why? Simple, we change Prime Minister's every few years...almost :P
In the U.S. and maybe other countries, you can probably name your Presidents mostly in order.
Japan is like, meh, forget it.
Anyway, ever since the BIG election in the U.S., and the BIG election for the FEMALE Governess of Tokyo (Ms. Koike), I started to pay even more attention to politics. And if you know me, I am half-Japanese and half-American and I've spent almost all my years in Japan except for the two-and-a-half years of my childhood in the States. And if you know me, I'm in my 20s (at the point of this post). And if you know me, on my blog I don't talk about politics...at all or very little.
But this time I have to. I think it's important for other people to know what some Japanese think of PM Abe. Now, I'm not speaking for everyone and I certainly do know that a bunch of Japanese of all ages support PM Abe.
I for one am not for PM Abe anymore.
Wait, anymore? Yes. Anymore. Here are my reasons:
1. I used to default support the Liberal Democratic Party or the Democratic Party of Japan
I never read (past tense) the news. I never really cared. So when the voting age was marked down and I suddenly had to vote, I just went for that because, "liberal" and "democratic" sound rather nice. I did think Obama was good and he's liberal and a democrat (and now you know my U.S. political views) so then the LDP or DPJ must be the party for me. Idk about the U.S. or other countries but we sure didn't learn much about the differences in political parties in school. We just learned the names of the major parties. I guess school thought we were watching TV. I guess they didn't think some families didn't watch TV and read newspapers instead. I guess they didn't think newspapers were boring for teens.
Oh, yeah, and when I say default, I mean it like that was my "go-to" party. When in doubt, yeah sure LDP or DPJ one of them would probably do.
2. I thought Abe was brave for coming back
If you know your Japanese history, you might remember that for a few years, Abe became PM but it was too much for him, too much stress, and he backed out. It was kind of a big thing because then the government had to quickly elect someone. And then in shining armor, Abe came back. Now, he knew what he needed to do and what he wanted to do. I think I voted for his party. I don't remember. Once PM, he started to take a whole ton of action meeting with Obama, trying to settle things as much as he could, TPP and all that jazz, getting things done, idk it just seemed very brave and nice to me.
3. His Nuclear Power Plant views were not my views?!
So in 2011, March, the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake shook us all AND the nuclear power plants. It also changed how some of us thought about it. It certainly changed me because in all my 12 years of elementary and junior and high school, no one mentioned that Japan and nuclear power plants. All I know about "nuclear" was Chernobyl (yes, I spelled that without hesitation). I don't think it was just me. I really don't. I felt lied to about it and when I heard how it just melted like that, I was like, nope, nope, we don't need any of that! Why do we need something so dangerous in EARTHQUAKE LAND JAPAN??? Keep them, and it's BOUND to happen again.
But PM Abe never seemed to make his views clear about this for a long time. I was waiting him to say "Oh yeah, we'll do something about that like get rid of it and introduce some other, safer energy." But I never heard that. And then, I started realizing that he actually supports this stuff. This dangerous, life-threatening stuff. You can 100% guarantee there will be another big earthquake in Japan yet he wants to keep the Nuclears!
4. Sales Tax goes up
From 5% to 8%. A 3% difference you might not think does much but heck yeah it did. I had so many plans of going places but when it went up...all those plans went poof :0 (Halloween Town reference). Things are so frickin expensive now! Did he not think about us people here struggling to live our lives?? Government people might have the money and the power but we don't, okay?
Sorry, I got worked up but that really got me. And then,
5. Abenomics
I refused to use that word for a long time. It sounded silly to me and even a little narcissistic and only recently have I started accepting it. I thought, oh really. Oh really, Abe? Really? This is supposed to help us? Really? Just admit it, will you? Japan is having some kind of financial crisis. Whatever bubble there was, if there was one (and I've heard there was a bubble) has popped and I can hear you all the way over here scrambling to find more soap suds to make another bubble. But the soap bottle is all squeezed out. We're suffering over here.
And I've seen the charts. Abenomics isn't helping very much.
6. "This will happen. We will do this. This will happen. Blah, blah, blah."
Once I started watching more news specifically about politics I realized how little was actually getting done. He'd say things like, "Oh, we'll help the children's daycare centers and help with providing more staff. Help with mothers having to take leave to give birth and help with them getting back to work. Help with this old people crisis. Make everybody happy."
I'm not happy with you :/ It was just a bunch of flowery talk.
My trust levels of him went way down. I cannot understand the people who still support him. Some of you, in your own countries, might understand this feeling. It's like..."Why do you support him/her? They are crazy, you are crazy, I can't even."
7. He wants Japan to have a military with guns
I have a lot of Chinese friends. I seriously think Chinese government ain't got no time to deal with fighting countries. They have their own country to deal with and it's humongous compared to teeny-weeny-island-country Japan. You sometimes forget Japan is an island.
So, now what? I don't support Abe anymore, what else is there? (Swan Princess reference).
8. Ms. Koike's Party of Hope
And then, I saw Ms. Koike. She is "people first". I liked that. Abe is thinking of Japan only, the country as a whole. Japan is his precious (LOTR reference) that needs to be taken care of but Japan is made up of the people. The people make Japan, you guys. The people make the U.S. The people make Iceland. The people make Canada. The people make Australia. The people make Bangladesh. The people make Haiti. The people make Russia. The people make South Korea. The people make China. The people make Sweden. I could go on and name all your lovely countries...
Ms. Koike gets down to our level. She's just like us. A woman in politics but a woman who is part of the people. She understands what we need.
Despite some backlash that she's also getting, I thought I'd like to take a chance with her.
And then, you guessed it, ABE AGAIN!
 |
| in a non-excited way |
Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks for reading. Also, remember, these are my personal views and opinions. I am not speaking for everyone. Some people do think Abe is a good PM. I think we need a woman for a change. But, yeah, anyway :P
Final thoughts about the Abe Administration?
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| Meh *shrugs* |
See ya later, alligators.
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