＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. The issue of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU
The result of the UK’s referendum on leaving the EU was a close one, with 51.3% in favor of “Leave” and 48.1% in favor of “Remain.” Moreover, confusion continued even after the referendum, with the politician who first instigated the country’s withdrawal from the EU admitting to “lies” he had told in the campaign and declining to run for prime minister.
Although Prime Minister May was originally in favor of remaining in the EU, she is proceeding with the withdrawal process, claiming that “leaving the EU is the will of the people,” in light of the fact that the majority of voters in the referendum voted in favor of leaving the EU, albeit by a narrow margin. But is this really the best way to proceed? I think it’s only natural that talk of a “second referendum” has come up.
It seems that many British people were deceived by the “lies” of the “Brexit camp” and voted. This was an “expression of intent made by mistake” and there was no “gross negligence” on the part of the British people, so shouldn’t it be considered “invalid”?
2. The issue of relocating the Futenma base to Henoko in Okinawa
When Governor Onaga was elected in the 2014 Okinawa gubernatorial election following the expiration of Governor Nakaima’s term, voter turnout was 64.13%, with Onaga receiving 51.7% of the vote. Mr. Nakaima received 37.3%.
However, Governor Onaga continued to wage a “thorough war” against the government using every means at his disposal until his death, including revoking the “Henoko landfill approval” of former Governor Nakaima, claiming that “opposition to the Henoko relocation is the will of the people of Okinawa”. I wonder if this was not going too far for the head of a local government. Wasn’t this action ignoring the fact that 48.3% of the prefectural residents who voted did not support Governor Onaga?
3. The Osaka Metropolitan Government Plan Issue
The “Osaka Metropolis Plan” is a plan for “government reform” that was set as the most important policy by the “Osaka Restoration Association” founded by Toru Hashimoto. It aims to change the governing system (administrative system) of “Osaka Prefecture” and “Osaka City” to a “to-ku system” like Tokyo.
The results of the May 2015 referendum among Osaka residents were very close, with 50.38% “against” and 49.62% “for” the proposal. Since Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura and Governor Ichiro Matsui of the Japan Restoration Association, the successor to the Osaka Restoration Association, were elected in the subsequent mayoral and gubernatorial elections in Osaka, I believe that the correct course of action is to reexamine the Osaka Metropolis concept after incorporating the opinions of the opposition and making revisions.
<Added on 9/3/2020> The second referendum on the “Osaka Metropolis Plan” has been decided
On September 3, 2020, the “Osaka Metropolis Plan Agreement (Blueprint)” was passed and approved by the Osaka City Council. On August 28, the Osaka Prefectural Assembly approved it, and it was decided that a second referendum would be held. The schedule is expected to be “announcement on October 12, voting on November 1.” The “City Election Commission” will be decided on September 7.
4. LDP Presidential Election
In the last LDP presidential election, Abe had the advantage in terms of votes from Diet members, but Ishiba won more votes from party members than Abe. Taking this fact into consideration, Prime Minister Abe appointed Ishiba to the important position of “Secretary-General” after the presidential election. I think this was an appropriate response.
However, in this presidential election, Mr. Abe was ahead in both the votes of Diet members and local party members, and Mr. Ishiba had been criticizing Mr. Abe one after another even before the election, so we decided that it would be difficult to work together and did not appoint the Ishiba faction, including Mr. Ishiba. I think this was a reasonable response in order to avoid friction such as “disagreement within the cabinet.”
It is like “barbershop talk” for an amateur politician to talk about politics, but I would like politicians to deal with issues such as the above, where both sides are arguing for and against, in a calm manner after careful consideration and deliberation of the arguments of both sides.