{"id":267,"date":"2007-03-14T22:40:41","date_gmt":"2007-03-14T13:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=267"},"modified":"2008-06-06T00:04:29","modified_gmt":"2008-06-05T15:04:29","slug":"more-on-ibuki-butter-bunmei-from-matt-dioguardi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=267","title":{"rendered":"More on Ibuki “butter” Bunmei from Matt Dioguardi"},"content":{"rendered":"

–HI BLOG. FORWARDING A THOUGHTFUL POST FROM “THE COMMUNITY” MAILING LIST<\/a>. AUTHOR IS MATT DIOGUARDI. DEBITO IN SAPPORO<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On Feb 28, 2007, at 1:12 PM, Kirk Masden wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t know if Abe will be made to regret it but he should be.<\/p>\n

Abe’s defense strikes me as more problematic than the original<\/p>\n

gaff. Abe is equating homogeneity with getting along well. By this<\/p>\n

logic, diversity (more foreigners in Japan, etc) leads to acrimony.<\/p>\n

It also implies that whatever peace and good human relations have<\/p>\n

characterized Japan thus far have been in spite of minorities such as<\/p>\n

Ainu, Okinawans, Koreans, etc. This is a very problematic way for<\/p>\n

Japan’s leader to defend a remark.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Education Minister] Bunmei Ibuki’s comments continue to trouble me.<\/p>\n

Some things to think about:<\/p>\n

1. I’ve found at least two places where Ibuki specifically basically<\/p>\n

says, “though there are exceptions such as the Ainu and the Zainichi<\/p>\n

people, Japan is fundamentally, one ethnos, one culture, one ethnic<\/p>\n

rulership, one language, one belief system” (As Kirk says above, this<\/p>\n

is a very exclusivist attitude. He’s basically *excluding* the Ainu<\/p>\n

and the Zainichi from participation in the successes of Japanese<\/p>\n

rulership, culture, language, and beliefs.)<\/p>\n

2. Ibuki also states in more than one place, practically like a<\/p>\n

refrain, that because of the post-war constitution and Fundamental<\/p>\n

Law of Education are western they emphasize rights over duty, private<\/p>\n

over public. This is one reason why Japanese society is falling into<\/p>\n

decadence. The examples given again and again are Livedoor and<\/p>\n

Murakami funds. Ibuki will say, of course, rights and privacy are<\/p>\n

very important, *but* … then he launchs into the problems they cause.<\/p>\n

3. The solution suggested is to revise the constitution and the<\/p>\n

Fundamental Law of Education to include more values of the Japanese<\/p>\n

ethnos.<\/p>\n

Has this not already happened somewhat? Article 2 of the Fundamental<\/p>\n

Law of Education has been revised from what was previously an<\/p>\n

emphasis on individuality and personal development, to a list of<\/p>\n

values that perhaps are intended to reflect the values of the<\/p>\n

Japanese ethnos.<\/p>\n

So because there is a *perceived* majority, and the *perception* that<\/p>\n

the *perceived* majority have certain supposedly *shared* values,<\/p>\n

those values must now be imposed on *everyone*?<\/p>\n

Good grief!<\/p>\n

The one positive element here, is that I am gradually finding very<\/p>\n

active and vocal Japanese citizens on the net who see through all<\/p>\n

this nonsense. But so far not enough to stop the steamroller …<\/p>\n

This is a really terrible price to have to pay for Koizumi’s economic<\/p>\n

reforms.<\/p>\n

As far as Ibuki’s statements I’ve been blogging some of them here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/japan.shadowofiris.com\/education\/last-april-ibuki-suggested-excluding-ainu-and-zainichi-people-from-educational-and-constitutional-reforms\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/japan.shadowofiris.com\/education\/last-april-ibuki-suggested-excluding-ainu-and-zainichi-people-from-educational-and-constitutional-reforms\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/japan.shadowofiris.com\/education\/the-ibuki-manifesto\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/japan.shadowofiris.com\/education\/education-minister-calls-america-an-artificial-country\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Best,<\/p>\n

Matt Dioguardi<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

–HI BLOG. FORWARDING A THOUGHTFUL POST FROM “THE COMMUNITY” MAILING LIST. AUTHOR IS MATT DIOGUARDI. DEBITO IN SAPPORO On Feb 28, 2007, at 1:12 PM, Kirk Masden wrote: I don’t know if Abe will be made to regret it but he should be. Abe’s defense strikes me as more problematic than the original gaff. Abe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20,5,4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-history","category-human-rights","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}