And who is Yoichi Miyazawa?


PM Abe has appointed Mr Yoichi Miyazawa as Japan's new Trade Minister. On his Japanese wikipedia page, there is a note that he is "against" TPP.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%AE%E6%BE%A4%E6%B4%8B%E4%B8%80

He went to Harvard in 1978 so at least we can expect him to know some English. As for not wanting foreigners with a permanent residency status to vote, well, LDP is much like UKIP and the Conservatives, wrapped up in one...

His father, Kiichi Miyazawa was briefly PM until 1993, when for the first time, LDP was voted out of power. The Guardian had this in the obituary:

Fluent in English, [Kiichi] Miyazawa served as an aide to the negotiators who drew up the 1951 San Francisco peace treaty. Indeed, it was his desire to overcome the historical animosity that blighted Japan's relations with its wartime enemies that drove him in the later years of his career. Despite being instrumental in giving Japanese troops a greater role in UN peacekeeping missions in the early 1990s, he was also a staunch supporter of Japan's postwar pacifist constitution.

 PM Abe supported by the children of older statesmen, well, isn't that democracy at its best...

政策

Comments

Unknown said…
I remember a story re Miyazawa Snr back then when he was Prime Minister he was forbidden to speak English on official duties/talks etc. Since he would have most likely been the ONLY one able to do so it can only be assumed that re 'Japan' and its interest on Nihongo would do.

Suddenly reminds of certain Japanese people who would say that Japanese is the most difficult language in the world, without, of course, ever having learnt a word of any other language let alone Eigo.
Unknown said…
Gomen, 'its interestS onLY Nihongo...'

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