＜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
<Added on 2024/5/28> Ayuko Kato, Minister of State for Special Missions in the Cabinet Office, is the lowest level minister.
There have been many incompetent ministers in the past, but Ayuko Kato, Minister of State for Special Missions in the Cabinet Office (child policies, measures to combat the declining birthrate, youth empowerment, gender equality, and measures to combat loneliness and isolation), is one of the worst ministers in history.
She is the daughter of Kato Koichi (former Chief Cabinet Secretary) and graduated from the Faculty of Law at Keio University and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, but her lack of preparation as a minister is so severe that it makes you want to cover your eyes.
Recently, there have been several ministers who have been unable to respond to questions due to a “lack of study or ability.” Doesn’t this bother you?
1. Mr. Yoshitaka Sakurada
Yoshitaka Sakurada was born in 1949 and is 69 years old this year. He is a member of the baby boomer generation. He is a member of the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party, and was appointed to a ministerial post for the first time in the 4th Abe Cabinet reshuffle in October 2018. He is the Minister of State in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and Cybersecurity Strategy.
However, soon after taking office, he made us worry with his incoherent and nonsensical answers that revealed a lack of study and ability.
They simply read out answers that are not in line with the purpose, and frequently consult with administrative bureaucrats, causing deliberations to be stalled.
Saying “I don’t know why I was appointed to be in charge of the Olympics” is tantamount to saying that I am unfit to be in charge of the Tokyo Olympics.
When he said, “I don’t normally use a computer,” and “I hear USBs are inserted into holes, but I don’t know the details,” he was essentially saying that he was unfit to be a “cybersecurity strategist.”
This makes me think that he is incompetent enough to even serve as a vice minister, and is an incompetent minister(「伴食（ばんしょく）大臣」) who simply does what he is told. For the sake of smooth operation of the Diet, I hope that he will be replaced as soon as possible.
The opposition parties, as usual, may pursue the prime minister’s “responsibility for appointments,” but it is hard to believe, even to the untrained eye, that such a person will be able to fulfill his duties related to the 2020 Olympics.
“Do not hesitate to correct your mistakes,” and “A mistake that is not corrected is called a mistake.” Prime Minister Abe should simply apologize frankly for “misjudging and underestimating the person.”
He became “Vice Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology” in the second Abe cabinet and served as “Director of the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” so he must have been “qualified” to be appointed…
He seems inferior to the former Minister of Justice, Mr. Katsutoshi Kaneda, whom we will discuss next.
At the “Press Conference on the National Budget for the Olympic and Paralympic Games” held on January 29, he again revealed his incompetence. His disgraceful behavior showed “nothing short of a complete lack of motivation.”
This was not just a level of “misspoken” or “I had lost track of that number”; he was completely incapable of answering the question on his own. It was a shameful situation.
He was a “messenger boy” who received a “lecture” from the secretariat at the press conference and simply repeated it as if it was “someone else’s problem.” “As the minister in charge, he had no idea about the situation or the figures, and he was completely dependent on the secretariat for the press conference.”
I can’t help but wonder how such a person can remain in the minister’s chair.
<Added on 4/11/2019>
He finally resigned (effectively ousted) as minister over the issue of his comment, “More important than reconstruction is a member of the Diet,” made at a party held on April 10 in Tokyo by LDP member Hinako Takahashi. However, he has not resigned from the Diet.
2. Mr. Katsutoshi Kaneda
Katsutoshi Kaneda is another “baby-boomer” born in 1949 and aged 69 this year. A member of the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was appointed Minister of Justice in August 2016 in the third Abe’s second cabinet reshuffle.
His educational background and career history are illustrious: he graduated from Hitotsubashi University’s Faculty of Economics in 1973, joined the Ministry of Finance in the same year (Main Accounting Bureau), became Director of the Yamanashi Tax Office of the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau in 1978, and was appointed as Chief Accountant in 1993.
Looking at this alone, one would imagine a man as sharp as a razor, but once he became a minister, he revealed a lack of study and ability.
His flubbed answers about the conspiracy crime law drew laughter.
The awfulness of the previous Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) prime ministers and ministers was also glaringly obvious, but these two ministers seem just as lousy.
He is of the same baby boomer generation as me, so I really want to tell him to do his best, but when I think about the Abe Cabinet’s steady execution of government duties, the fair and smooth running of the Diet, and the national interest, I am filled with anxiety.
It is not my place as an outsider to comment, but I think it would be wise for him to resign as minister immediately.
Becoming a minister is not a goal, but the starting point, so instead of arrogantly thinking, “Finally, I’ve become a minister. From now on I can act all high and mighty,” I hope he will return to his roots and study hard, even sacrificing sleep, in the duties of his department.
3. Mr. Kakuei Tanaka, the polar opposite of the two above
The man who seems to be at the polar opposite of these two is former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
I’d like to share an anecdote about former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka that I heard some time ago.
He left a stain of corruption in the “Lockheed Affair” and the “money vein problem,” but on the other hand, it is necessary to admit that he was an excellent politician who created a blueprint for modern Japan with his “Theory of Remodeling the Japanese Islands” and fascinated the public with his vigorous actions and speeches, which earned him the nickname “Bulldozer with a computer. I think it is necessary to admit that he was an excellent politician.
The “Japanese Islands Remodeling Plan” is a plan to promote “decentralization” by leveraging industrial reallocation and the formation of a nationwide network of transportation and information communications to reverse the flow of people, money, and goods from the megacities to the regions.
Although he only graduated from higher elementary school, he has achieved great success, including serving as Secretary-General of the LDP, important cabinet ministers such as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minister of Finance, and Minister of International Trade and Industry, and eventually Prime Minister.
Also, when he was Minister of Finance, after he lost a game of shogi（Japanese chess） against a Ministry of Finance bureaucrat who had graduated from the University of Tokyo, he was such a studious person that even after returning to his lodgings he continued to study the reason for his defeat.
He was said to have had an outstanding memory, and was good at remembering numbers and other things, and was also good at making quick decisions, which was the result of his diligent study. The “computer” part earned him the nickname “computer bulldozer.” It seems that many bureaucrats also admired him, which shows how much he was trusted.
Also, as he was called “Ima-Taiko,” he knew the subtleties of human emotions and was skilled at “coaxing people into joining him. It seems that it was thanks to his ability to control people’s hearts that he was able to drive a wedge between opposing factions and create allies.
Of course, it is true that the “power of money” played a large role, but I look back fondly on him now and think he was a “real politician.”
<Added on 2020/2/13>
Seigo Kitamura, Minister of State for Regional Revitalization and Regulatory Reform(「内閣府特命担当大臣（地方創生・規制改革担当）」), also revealed his lack of knowledge and ability in his response to questions in the Diet on February 6. Incidentally, Kitamura is also a member of the “baby boomer generation” (born in 1947).
This is due to the fact that his answers have changed several times over documents related to the Cherry Blossom Viewing Party, and he has been unable to respond to questions from the opposition parties, and this has apparently caused concern even within the ruling party.
As a result, yesterday there was a scene in which a “Cabinet Office bureaucrat” was “answering as a government witness,” after which Mr. Kitamura stated, “As you have just explained.
This is a “ventriloquist’s dummy(「腹話術の人形」)” or even worse. He is the “Minister of Anonymous(「匿名担当大臣」)” and I am suspicious of him as the “Minister of Dementia Creation(「痴呆（大臣）創生」).” I am keenly aware that “reform to stop parasitizing on the bureaucracy(「（官僚への）寄生改革」)” is necessary.