Interesting People mailing list archives

IP: For those of you who remember The Japan that can say No. .. the sequel


From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 18:19:11 -0500



The previous book was translated by the NSA without the copyholders permission. The official translation, many moons 
latter, was substantially milder than the NSA one. Wonder if anyone has dome that translation again. djf


From: "Richard Hendy" <rjmhendy () gol com>
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 11:22:31 +0900


Fellow Fukuzawans,
       First of all a big thank you for such a lively forum and long may it
remain vibrant.
       Shintaro Ishihara seems top be in the lead in the polls for the
Tokyo Gubernatorial Election, and in interviews he can come across as quite
reasonable  - see for example the article in last weeks' "Shukan Bunshun".
One wonders whether the media is really doing it's job properly, however. As
far as the Aum connection goes and Hans van der Lugt's contention that it is
all an LDP plot, well I know not, but Ishihara seems just as capable of
shooting himself in the foot without assistance from  LDP eminence grises.
Piled up high at my local bookstore is 'The Japanese Economy That Can Say
No', which appears to be a follow-up to the infamous 1989/90(?) tract, 'The
Japan That Can Say No', and co-authored (or ghost-written?) by the
Hitotsubashi Sogokenkyukai at Ishihara's old alma mater, Hitotsubashi
University. (Does anyone have any more info on these scholars?) I don't
think this latest tome has been translated into English yet - perhaps the US
Senate are sleeping on the case... To give you a flavour of it, here are the
chapter headings:
1 The Japanese Economy is America's Foot-bound Mistress
2 America's Financial Empire Aims For World Domination
3 The Asian Crisis - An American Plot
4 Learning from the EU And Creating A Great East Asian Strong Yen Sphere
5 Asian Solidarity Will Change the World
While it's not quite Mein Kampf, Ishihara does engage in some dubious
ramblings - of particular note see pp102-104, sub-headed 'The Bullying Of
Asia By The Merciless American Jewish Trio' (he is referring to Albright,
Rubin and Soros). There is a vehement denunciation of the retired British
sevicemen's protests against the Emperor's 1998 visit to Britain on pp141-6
and some examples of dubious broadsheet reporting, with which one can at
least sympathise. Unfortunately Ishihara then tarnishes his case  by
concluding:
           'English people like these (meaning the servicemen who burned
the Japanese flag), and American Anglo-Saxons, who crossed the seas from
England and who built the current America, exterminating and massacring the
Indians and buffalos as they went west with their expansionist lust, have
now selfishly come up with a new type of financial strategy for the East
Asian arena, with Jewish financial experts as Cabinet members installed at
the centre.'
       Of course most Tokyoites would care rather more about a link to Aum
than Ishihara's anti-semitic rambling, I suppose.
       As for the Ishihara - Seiyukai connection, Jens Wilkington may not
be right about the respectability of Seiyukai. I remember seeing somewhere
on the Web revelations of brainwashing etc from a (Belgian-based?) cult
investigation organisation.
         All contributions on Ishihara gratefully received.

Richard Hendy
a teacher

-----Original Message-----
ol : Tim 'T3' Romero <t3 () vanguardjp com>
: fukuzawa () ucsd edu <fukuzawa () ucsd edu>
: 1999 N3 19 21:56
: More (of the same) on Aum


Ishihara's close association with Aum is old news. I was talking it over
three years ago on one of my websites and on the DFS. However, I've never
seen anything to indicate that Ishihara is a member of Aum, and would be
quite surprised if he is or ever was.

At the moment, I don't have time or inclination to dig trough my old notes,
but from memory the basic sequence of events is as follows.

1) Shintaro Ishihara authors "A Japan that Can Say No", in which he
advocates, among other things, strengthening Japan's position in the world
by engaging in weapons technology transfer with Russia.

2) Ishihara lobbies to ensure that Aum is recognized by the government as a
proper religious organization.

3) The Japan-Russia Friendship University is founded in Russia using
primarily Japanese taxpayer money.

4) Aum is put in charge of this university. (Never did find out exactly how
that happened)

5) Using this University as a base, Aum begins a program of weapons
technology transfer, and pays out hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes
to high-ranking Russian officials.

6) Tokyo subway is gassed.

7) Three days after the raids on Aum begin, Ishihara unexpectedly resigns
his diet post in the middle of his term. His only explanation is that he
suddenly became tired of being a politician.

8) Diet member Hamada writes a book in which he explains that Ishihara was
funneling huge amounts of money into Aum.


Just something to think about. This guy could be our next governor.


L8r,



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