May
26

democracy part2

Why must all the people be entitled to vote? I think it's very dangerous because it's just like permitting all the people to drive a car without a license.

I guess that people were allergic to inequality after the long unjust reign of feudalism when they started this democratic society or world. But first of all, not all the people are intelligent enough to elect right politicians to entrust their rights. So I think they should have limited the right to vote to a right only to get a license to vote on condition that one can pass the examination, say, like a driver's license. That is a sufficient condition enough to treat all the people equally. Don't you think so?

I think that giving all the people a right to vote unconditionally (when they reach a certain age) is too much emotional and irresponsible. That only brings bad results especially for unintelligent people who do not know what goes on around them in reality. Bad politicians tend to abuse their ignorance to get a power and the society will reach mobocracy in the end. Japan is truly in this situation now.

In the system of democracy, education performs very important part of course. People are expected to acquire the knowledge to be a voter through education, but you know, the educational system itself had ruined here long ago as I said before.

If it's not, as a voter in an advanced country, we need to know more complicated things internationally than people in developing countries because, like it or not, our politicians must be one of the leaders in the world of international politics and management. How can we select politicians without broad knowledge over the international situation? Nevertheless, a lot of college graduates cannot understand even English. That is our educational system now. I think all our hopes had already gone.

Well, it's a pity but not all the people (including me) are intelligent enough to acquire those complicated knowledge. I think it's not easy for most of us. Selecting a member of a local assembly is one thing, selecting a member of the Diet is another thing at least. So I think a qualifying examination is essential before you entitle people to vote.

Each man has his forte. So, if one is not intelligent enough to be a voter, it doesn't mean he/she is useless. One's way of life is more important than that when the subject comes to the worth of a person. Moreover, I think voting irresponsibly without necessary knowledge is the worst thing to do for your society and the world. This is one of the important points when we think about improvement of the system of democracy.

Categories: thoughts

Mar
17

democracy part1

"Democracy is a big illusion." This is from my favorite comic book. Believe it or not, philosophy is with comics here, just like philosophy is with pop/rock music in UK. The difference is English literature also contains philosophical elements but most of the Japanese ones are not.

Well, anyway I'd like to talk about democracy today.

Is it in reality "democracy is a big illusion"? Yes and no I think as most of the abstract elements are the same. First of all, what is democracy? All the people believe what they want to believe. It's OK. But too much idealistic theory won't work forever. I want to warn especially to people in Asian countries that do not believe the theory blindly. Or you will fall into a pit as we're in today.

As Japan WAS a wealthy country in the past, so people in Asian countries tend to believe that we're very happy because of it and democracy is a way to reach the goal, the economical success. But money is only money after all. Things you can buy do not always make you happy. Don't become the second Japan, I'd like to say so seriously as a person who was born and raised in a false democratic country. Because the false and excessive democracy is now going to destroy and kill Japan.

Why do you think that JAL, one of the Japanese representative big companies, collapsed? Not only JAL but also many big businesses here are now going to be the useless ruins, or the heavy burdens of our society. Why?

One of the big reasons is fools who have an exaggerated educational background but without any capability or knowledge tend to get into big businesses.

Do you believe there are pilots who cannot understand a fixed form order from the control towers? They say that a pilot who almost caused a big accident because he mistook an order from a control tower. Or there are a lot of university graduates who cannot understand even English? I know a woman who majored in English literature and graduated from one of the prestigious universities here CANNOT understand English even now. It's not a joke. I'm serious.

So a high educational background here is now only a passport to earn more money or acquire a good looking job like pilots, doctors, lawyers, teachers or businessmen who can get a high salary. But actually a lot of them are USELESS. (a black joke, isn't it?) The evidence is this economical situation.

Democracy was an ideal theory in the past when feudalism was flourishing. But after so many years since democracy has turned to be a dominant philosophical background in the world. Now the question is "does it truly make people happy"?

Why the educational system is ruined here like that relates to the false or mistaken democracy brought into Japan after the Second World War. So the seed of today was sowed then in a sense.

I think democracy is not a bad theory but we should rethink how we use it. This is a big and interesting theme but too big for a blog entry. I'll write about it from time to time, so, to be continued. (laugh)

Categories: thoughts

Jan
21

Recent Japan

Believe it or not, Japan died long ago. Why I say this? Well, it's simple it's true. You know how the stock prices are these days. The Nikkei Stock Average is under ¥9,000. Some of you remember that it was over ¥20,000, almost reaching ¥30,000 at a time in 80's. The result is disastrous. Recently they say that the average annual income of ordinary Japanese families is under ¥2,000,000 which was at least over ¥3,000,000 in 80's.

Thanks to the economical bad condition, the notorious traffic congestion is improved because the number of cars is reduced on the road. The cost to own a car is rather high in Japan so many young people cannot buy or keep even a car any more. What a mess. Well, so Japan is no longer one of the richest country in the world. NO. I should say that we're going to be the poorest. Now, "why" is the problem.

That is because education, economy, politics, all three of them was ruined. We no longer have even a normal educational system which is the most important part in the three of them. The ruined educational system is generating incompetent people and sending them out into the real world irresponsibly. Do you believe that many people who graduated from a university or a college cannot understand even ENGLISH? That because Japanese way of teaching English is improper but they still insist on keeping the curriculum. Do you think English teachers who cannot pronounce English words and sentences properly are useful?

So people need to go to language school but, what is worse, those schools also do NOT know how to learn English. They can offer only some opportunities to talk to foreigners who also do not know how to teach the language. A vicious circle. Some of you know those useless language schools like Nova went bankrupt in the past.

And those incompetent people who was generated from the ruined educational system became politicians or workers of first-rated companies and the result is, you know, the stock prices.

Intellectual people know what's going on in this country but the others have no eye to see the fact. It's a pity that most of the politicians are the latter. So the educational system won't change at least for a while and the situation which we're in won't improve in the near future. Maybe...

Categories: thoughts