Party Posters (a left-wing wall)

Party Posters (a left-wing wall)
Originally uploaded by nofrills

Two left-wing national political parties in Japan (共産党 and 社民党), one left-ish local small party in Tokyo (生活者ネットワーク) and one centrist party (民主党).

Don't believe the American mainstream media's lazy propaganda: 民主党, or the Liberal Party of Japan, is NOT on the leftside of the political spectrum. (If they are, the Liberal Democtrats are on the left, too - they have had Keynesian policy for a long time.)

The LPJ are just another centrist party made up of 1) ex-LDP members (conservatives, nationalists, ultra-nationalists) and 2) ex-Social Democratic Something members (they indeed are on the left, but not very influential even within the LPJ itself). The NYT's article was one of the worst I've read on this election. They didn't even know the LPJ are now not against the "war on terror". (They used to be strongly against it.) The UK's Times and the Guardian have had good articles published.

I intentionally avoided two other political parties linked to religious organisations (公明党 and 幸福実現党). 公明党 (Komei Party), which is currently part of the ruling coalition, is thought to be the political wing of a large religious organisation (Soka Gakkai). 幸福実現党 is a very new political party which really is a political wing of a new religion (新宗教, which can be roughly translated as "cult").

Party Posters (LDP)

Party Posters (LDP)
Originally uploaded by nofrills

自民党 (the Liberal Democratic Party - they really should rename themselves as the Conservative Majority-loving Party). They are going to lose their position after all these five or six decades. (I don't count Hosokawa gov't because it was too short.)

At the last election, in 2005, the LDP (under Koizumi, who was known as an "eccentric" and "artistic" person) employed a skilled graphic designer. But this time, there they are! The good old CONSERVATIVE, BORING, and STALE LDP!!

A Party Poster

A Party Poster
Originally uploaded by nofrills

国民新党 (the People's New Party) is a relatively new party formed by not-new-at-all jokes, erm, political veterans who are largely conservative and populist.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Political Party Posters (archive):
whatiseehere.blogspot.com/search/label/political%20poster

from Prime Minister Abe's message

from Prime Minister Abe's message
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

I'm just messing around with my software.

-- basically TV screen, 6th August 2007. (TV-Asahi's Hodo Station, I think.)

from Mayor Akiba's message

from Mayor Akiba's message
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

I'm just messing around with my software.

-- basically TV screen, 6th August 2007. (TV-Asahi's Hodo Station, I think.)

--
BBC's report on the YouTube BBC World channel:
youtube.com/watch?v=j5k3keyGbn8

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (5)

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (5)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The Prime Minister's speech at the Atomic Bomb Memorial Ceremony on the morning of 6th August, 2007.

The caption roughly translates: "We (the government) promise to do everything we can do to abolish the nuclear weapons and to establish the eternal peace." I hope he is honestly and sincerely saying this.

-- the TV screen, the NHK's 9 O'Clock News, 6th August 2007.

--
BBC's report on the YouTube BBC World channel:
youtube.com/watch?v=j5k3keyGbn8

Nagasaki city mayor shot

Nagasaki city mayor shot
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The mayor of Nagasaki City was shot just before 20:00, Tuesday 17 April 2007, just outside of (or at the door of) his election campaign office. He was shot from the back. He was taken to Nagasaki University Hospital and he is in critical condition - cardio-respiratory arrest (心肺停止).
www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/press/gougai/20070417/01.pdf

This pic is a TV screen collage. The NHK's Nagasaki office is very near (like 300 metres) to the shooting scene, and so the they were at the scene before the ambulance crew took the victim to hospital.

Row 1, left: Paramedics, police and crowd
Row 1, right: Crowd (passers-by) and the police
Row 2, left: Ambulance and the TV crew
Row 2, right: Ambulance
Row 3, left: The victim, Mayor of Nagasaki City, Mr Iccho Ito (伊藤一長) speaking to the public last Sunday.
Row 3, right: One witness, who happened to be near the scene.

The mayor, Mr Ito, has been strongly against nuclear arms -- Nagasaki is one of the two cities that were A-bombed in 1945, the other being Hiroshima.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Na...

The mayor's speeches, the Peace Declaration, on the A-bomb anniversary every year (9th August) have been translated into English. I did a quick search on the web and found some:
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=6155
www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0809-03.htm
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4133572.stm
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_2002_August_12/ai...

The press says the gunman, who was arrested at the scene, is a member of the largest criminal gang (暴力団, or yakuza).

Mr Ito was born in Nagasaki in 1945 (the year the city was A-bombed). He has been the mayor of the city since 1999. The city has an election next Sunday and he runs for the forth term.
headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070417-00000096-mai-soci

The city of Nagasaki has public bidding problems/scandals and the gunman tells the police that it was the reason.
www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Sp200704170369.html

But I am not fully convinced -- in 1990, Mr Motojima, mayor of Nagasaki at the time, was shot and wounded after he exprpessed his views on the war and the Emperor Hirohito. Though he was a conservative politician, he said the Emperor had the responsibility. (My translation here is very rough, so please check a more reliable source if you really want to know about this.) Anyway I know little about Nagasaki City and don't know what exactly is going on.

[UPDATE]
For news articles in English:
news.google.co.uk/news?ned=uk&ncl=1115453030&hl=e...

According to the Jiji.com news, the mayor is almost braindead. He was shot twice from the back, and the two bullets tore his heart, which means he was shot at close range.
headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070418-00000014-jij-soci

[UPDATE 2]
He was declared dead at 02:28 (JST), 18 April 2007. 合掌.

Newspaper

Newspaper
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

SEE NOTES for language tips.

A man was reading a tabloid which tells there was anger even among pro-change lawmakers. 14 April 2007, Tokyo, Japan.

The tabloid article is mainly about party politics, but the point is the referendum, which must be flawed - as far as I can see reading some serious news articles (in Japanese). Read about it in the BBC (in English):
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6553231.stm