Saturday, April 7, 2007
Election
This
slashdot article is full of interesting tidbits and comment about Japanese election season, whose main outward sign is the ongoing daily onslaught by roving megaphone laden trucks, endlessly shouting inane (Ishiyama. thank you. Thank you for the utmost. Please. Ishiyama. Did I mention thank you? Thank you, very much. etc.) exhortations, with white gloved candidates waving gleefuly and glibly at anything that moves (dogs, cats, trees, birds, the occasional human) whether it votes or cares or (as is usually the case) not.
One basic realization I had was that, rather than imprisoning us in their charade, it is they who are imprisoned in the strict yet subtle mockery that Japanese laws make of that delicate (ornamental?) plant us Westerners hold so dear and yet have failed so miserably to transplant, Vivus Democracitus. East may meet West, occasionally, but something is lost in translation.
One basic realization I had was that, rather than imprisoning us in their charade, it is they who are imprisoned in the strict yet subtle mockery that Japanese laws make of that delicate (ornamental?) plant us Westerners hold so dear and yet have failed so miserably to transplant, Vivus Democracitus. East may meet West, occasionally, but something is lost in translation.
Labels: japanese politics
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