From: degraw@lclark.edu (David Degraw)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Graft/Miyazawa
Date: 25 Dec 92 01:53:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1992Dec25.015320.12650
Followup-To: <1992Dec18.080728.1608@lclark.edu>
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR


 

In article <1992Dec24.080728.1608@westford.ccur.com> hank@westford.ccur.com
(Hank Cohen) writes:

some unneccessary drivel deleted:

>>This was the conclusion of a message in which Mr. Degraw claims that
>>the Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa was involved in the
>>current Sagawa kyubin Scandal.  I have been folowing the news
>>regarding the Sagawa scandal since before it really broke out into the
>>open.  The Economist was reporting that the scandal of the century was
>>about to break long before any other source and they have continued to
>>provide the most comprehensive and insightful coverage.  I have also
>>been reading the Japanese English language press on this subject and
>>NOWHERE was it ever reported that Prime Minister Miyazawa was involved
>>at all.  Mr. Degraw was engageing in a bit of uninformed malicious
>>slander and should post a retraction admiting his ignorance of the
>>facts.
>>	Having said that I must say that I'm not defending Japanese
>>politicians as a class and not even Mr. Miyazawa individually.  For
>>all I know Mr. Miyazawa is as corrupt as any of them but that has not
>>been reported from any knowledgeable source.  If we are to keep this
>>discussion of Japanese Culture from degenerating into slander then we
>>must be on guard against misinformation.  The outrageous blather that
>>has been spouted mr the poster claiming to be R.Asano has obscured the
>>fact that there is a lot of other misinformation floating through this
>>group in less offensive guise.

Readers, please make a note to read the follow-up corrections I am 
posting to the factual errors made in the article <1992Dec18.080728.1608@
lclark.edu>.

Mistake One:
	I incorrectly wrote that the Sagawa scandal involved p.m. Miyazawa.
Correction:
	Ex-p.m. Takeshita Noboru's name should be replaced where Miyazawa's
	appears.  However, Miyazawa's involvement with the scandal can be
	made on the grounds of complicity.  The LDP are "sitting on their
	hands" about this issue.  Furthermore, p.m. Miyazawa's ascension to
	the prime ministership was largely engineered by the Takeshita 
	faction whose chief members were Kanemaru,Takeshita,and Ozawa.
	Kanemaru has taken responsibility for the Sagawa scandal by 
	resigning.  Takeshita has been a little more zuzushii(tenacious)
	and reamins in a responsible position of influence and power in
	Japanese politics.  BTW, the chairperson of the opposition JSP
	(Japan Socialist Party) has also resigned his post at the public
	failure of his interrogations at the Sagawa scandal hearings.

Mistake Two:
	I noted that ex-p.m. Uno's secretary had committed suicide for
	Uno's sex scandal.
Correction:
	Uno's illicit sexual activities were made public, but his secretary
	did not commit suicide.  ex-p.m. Takeshita's scandal involving 
	insider information from Recruit Co. had caused his secretary to
	'take responsibility' by committing suicide.

Trivia:
	Two of Tanaka's secretaries committed suicide in the aftermath of 
	the Lockheed scandal.

Conclusion:
	Miyazawa should not resign, but Takeshita should relinquish his
	political carreer since he has been an instigator of two political 
	scandals.  Moreover, unless drastic power-structural changes are
	made in Japan, the Japanese political system will have difficulty
	keeping up with the pace of democratization and liberalization
	seen to be taking place across the globe in places such as 
	the (ex-) Soviet Union.

		
	at questioning Takeshita et.al.