The big news today was the prime minister of Japan resigning, and it had even some of my students talking. This prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had some real problems rallying the people behind him, and he seemed to be out of touch with what Japanese people really wanted to change, and how they felt about Japan’s place in the world. It was a big surprise when he resigned – technically he should have done it a month or so ago after his party suffered defeat in elections.
I’m not much interested in Japanese politics, but it is interesting to notice the contrasts between their political system and America’s system. In the end, Abe resigned because he realized that his presence in the situation was not helping move forward the agenda that he wanted to promote. He was becoming a distraction – a hindrance to the progress that he saw as positive for the country. So he removed himself from the situation. It was remarkable to me to see somebody just walk away from all that power, and leave a gaping hole in it’s place.
So this will be all over the news for a while, and it’ll be fun to watch the scramble.
Starting to get close to the weekend. This month is turning out to be kind of busy, but with the heat starting to subside it is a little more bearable. This weekend we’re headed to a famous festival in Osaka with one of Kuniko’s coworkers. It’ll be fun to go to a festival and take lots of pictures, eat greasy festival food, and maybe have a couple of beers. I’m ready for autumn.
