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TOKYO, Dec. 2, 2020—After the 4.2 percent year-to-year growth of 2010 — the knee-jerk spike from the 2008 world economic crisis, Japan’s GDP has been meandering with less than 1 percent growth, and the slumber’s key cause can be traced to re-regulation disguised as deregulation and structural reform. And the men that promote the stifling re-regulation policy are the current prime minister and his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga and Shinzo Abe, both acting on the advise of Japan’s super conman.
In Abe’s closing period as the Japanese leader earlier in 2020, the man who has been working behind the scene as their policy brain came back to the political theater forefront. On Dec. 1, 2020, Heizo Takenaka, a 69-year-old ‘professor’ of Toyo University, proudly attended Suga’s economic growth policy strategy council meeting, acting like he’s the chair, and Suga his protege.
The scene was no surprise. What made Suga to succeed Abe as prime minister owed much to Heizo, who as the minister of internal affairs and communications in 2005, plucked Suga from political party obscurity as deputy minister. Ever since then, Suga has been looking up to Heizo for policy ideas, which Suga proposed for Abe’s consumption. Heizo had to be in the dark over the past decade for a flood of scandals for his involvement, such as committing fraud to a Toyota Motor-affiliated housing maker, acquisition of McDonald’s Japan shares before the company’s IPO, appearing on ads of a failed private bank’s affiliate, and having been serving as the chair of Pasona Corp., a manpower intro company while being an academic. These were the reason why he had kept quiet over the past 10 years.
But Heizo began straddling both Abe and Suga since early 2020, when the Japanese economy plummeted in response to the Covid-19 crisis.l Suga, who is known for the dearth of bright ideas, sought Heizo’s help, and Takenaka gave him one immediately: the ‘Go To Travel’ tourism campaign to support travel-related businesses, from airlines to hotels by giving deep discounts to tourists. Suga proffered to idea to Abe, and Abe took it and introduced it immediately.
With Suga as prime minister, Takenaka has reemerged to the political theater spotlight. At the center of the duo’s policy are the lowering of smart phone user costs (near-term) and a Tokyo financial hub scheme (long-term).
Heizo is a man who already makes sure that whatever he does gets him financial rewards. The smart phone cost reduction idea is aimed at atrophying Masayoshi Son’s Softbank Corp., which operates Yahoo internet/smart phone services, while backing Hiroshi Mikitani’s Rakuten phone company. Rakuten is trying to become a fourth major carrier after NTT DoCoMo, KDDI au services, and Yahoo, but it has been struggling. Mikitani is planning to buy the Seiyu retail and supermarket chain for his strategy to field more real Rakuten phone stores than current mostly virtual stores. Japan deregulated telecom and broadcasting over the past two decades but Suga’s policy is to re-regulate the industries as Takenaka recommends by threatening that his administration won’t issue license for the ‘platinum band’ for the 5G telecom service unless the carriers observe government protocols.

Takenaka also is working as intermediary between Suga and Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike in their effort to keep the Go To Travel campaign, which is at the center of public criticism for spreading Covid-19 viruses.
Over more than the past decade after Takenaka stood at the political theater front row, contrary to what former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s deregulation aspirations, the country has been in the re-regulation mode. ‘Taking apart and reassembling — but with different parts and components’ is Takenaka’s strategy. It’s how Japan’s labor market has experienced. The labor reform that began in the mid-2000 overhauled how Japanese workers work. When the dust settled around 2015 or so, the average Japanese found that they have become poorer. It was because the labor reform has severely sapped Japan’s productivity and creativity — perhaps irreversibly.
While in office as minister Takenaka split the Japan Post into four entities. The outcome is inconvenience on the part of the public and the long-term uncertainty about the security of postal savings and postal insurance monies — the world’s largest bloc of long-term consumer money.
This can be confirmed by the fact that after 2010, Japan’s real GDP growth has been barely above 1 percent.
Having implemented the labor reform, Heizo made people poorer but his friend, Pasona’s Yasuyuki Nambu, super-rich. Pasona’s stock price, which had been fluctuating slightly above 500 yen began crawling higher after 2015 and now is near 2000. The company has become a de facto owner of the entire Shodo-to Islands in Shikoku.
Except Suga, who is from the northern province of Akita, the players are mostly from the greater Osaka region called Kansei. Takenaka, who is 69, is from Wakayama; Mikitani, from Kobe; Koike, Kobe; and Nambu, Kobe. They all are over 50 years old, the eldest being Takenaka. Takenaka and Mikitani also are graduates of Hitotsubashi University, a prestigious school. They are set to form alliances and groupings over the coming months to do more, possibly to pull down the Japanese economy further.
Takenaka is a man of ‘slick words and double tongue misleading Japan as an evangelist of liberalism… He’s not a scholar, politician or business executive,’ wrote Masahiko Fujiwara in the December issue of Bunsei Shunju magazine.


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TOKYO, Nov. 28, 2020—A typical Japanese statesman show: As his counterpart made stinging remarks on sovereignty issues, the Japanese minister kept sitting like a dumb duck with a grin at a joint news conference Nov. 24. It was a damage to Japan, probably very difficult to reverse.
At a news conference in Tokyo on that day, the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, long known as pro-Japan official who had served as Chinese ambassador to Japan, said:
“(Japanese) fishing ships are continuously entering sensitive waters. It is important to ensure that such ships do not enter those waters,” he said, openly addressing the countries’ dispute over the rights to the Senkakus.
Wang made a similar comment during the joint news conference with Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi the previous day.
Foreign Ministry press secretary Tomoyuki Yoshida denounced the comments at a Nov. 25 news conference, saying, “Wang’s comment is based on the unique standpoint of the Chinese side and is something that we absolutely cannot accept.” — according to Japan’s Asahi newspaper article.
In response to domestic criticisms of his meek attitude toward Wang, Motegi said in a parliamentary session Nov. 27 that contrary to news reports, he relayed ‘a strong concern’ about Senkaku to Wang — but it was too late, and diplomatic damage was already done was apparent as reported by the Japan Times:
The English language daily wrote:
‘When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi calmly but staunchly asserted Tuesday night that Japan-administered islands in the East China Sea belong to China, a slight smirk appeared on the face of his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi.
As the interpreter subsequently read Wang’s remarks aloud in Japanese, Motegi’s expression changed little but his darting eyes belied a certain unease. Some observers speculated that he had frozen, and the faint smile was simply a defense mechanism.
The contrast was sharp between Wang, who maintained a poker face throughout, and Motegi, who appeared to have been caught off guard by the Chinese envoy’s spontaneous assertion about the Senkaku Islands, which are known as the Diaoyu in Chinese.
The awkward moment at the joint news conference in Tokyo, which followed the two foreign ministers’ first in-person meeting since the pandemic erupted, reflects the difficult reality that the rift between two Asian powerhouses runs deep on national security issues despite their attempt to sugarcoat the hourlong meeting by airing a laundry list of bilateral accomplishments.
“The Chinese position is crystal clear: We’ll continue to absolutely defend our sovereignty,” Wang said after alleging that some Japanese fishing boats “that are unaware of the facts” have entered the territorial waters near the disputed islets, leaving China “no choice but to take a necessary response.”
“It’s important to avoid taking actions that will complicate the matter in sensitive territorial waters. We’d like to make the East Sea the one defined by peace and amicability and manage it cooperatively through our mutual endeavors,” he continued, using the Chinese expression for the East China Sea. “I think that will match with both countries’ basic mutual interests.”
If his words were not sufficient, China backed them up Wednesday: The Japan Coast Guard confirmed two Chinese government vessels had entered the contiguous waters near the Senkakus, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said.
Wednesday’s occurrence — carried out during Wang’s visit — brings up the total number of days that Chinese ships have sailed in the area to 306 days so far this year, with the top government spokesman denouncing the streak as “extremely serious.”
But Wang appeared to give no heed to the almost daily occurrences and carried on with his schedule, even meeting with Kato on Wednesday morning. He paid a visit to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga later in the evening before departing Japan.
After meeting with Suga, Wang told reporters that they had agreed to further improve the bilateral relationship in a way that is “appropriate for a new era” with the new Japanese administration.
Mentioning the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Games scheduled for next year, as well as the Winter Games slated to be held in Beijing in 2022, Wang added he hopes those sporting events will bring the people of both nations closer.
“Through these Olympic Games, we’re going to promote further development of our ties, build a solid foundation and create a positive environment ahead of the important milestone the year after next: 50 years since Chinese-Japanese diplomatic relations were established,” Wang said. “We’re even planning for the next 50 years.”
Wang also revealed that he had delivered a message from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the prime minister. In the message, according to Wang, Xi voiced his support for the Tokyo games and conveyed his willingness to cooperate with Suga on coronavirus and economic recovery measures by building “a good working relationship.”
In a morning briefing, Kato said he had delivered his concerns about the Senkakus as well as the crackdown in Hong Kong to Wang, but underscored the positives of their meeting.
“I told Mr. Wang the Suga administration’s position that emphasizing the importance of Japan-China relations won’t change and expressed its eagerness to build stable relations and contribute to the region and international society together as responsible powers,” the top government spokesman said.“Mr. Wang told me that China, too, would like to play a constructive role together in this uncertain world and continue building on amicable ties.”
Wang’s overall remarks at the joint news briefing Tuesday night were much longer than Motegi’s, a difference a Japanese Foreign Ministry official who was present during the meeting acknowledged later Tuesday evening.
The official declined to elaborate whether the Japanese side had foreseen that the Chinese foreign minister would take a jab at Tokyo’s position on the territorial dispute in public. The official, though, admitted Wang made a similar assertion during his meeting with Motegi, which the official portrayed as having a “good atmosphere” with candid discussions on the topics they have disagreements over.
The Japanese side brought up the territorial issue during Tuesday’s talks, with Motegi saying at the news conference that he had demanded Beijing take “positive action” over the repeated intrusions by Chinese vessels into waters around the Senkakus. But his tone was subdued compared with Wang’s.
Taking a page from China’s “Wolf Warrior” aggressive diplomatic playbook, the Chinese foreign minister was outspoken, even daring to rile the host country in public.
Although the move risked overshadowing the tangible progress made by the two countries, such as resuming business travel, Wang seemed determined to send a clear message not just to Japan but also neighboring Asian countries that are entangled in similar territorial disputes: China won’t back down.
Wang’s assertive behavior comes as China has watched warily as Japan has taken steps in recent months that the communist country views as a concerted bid to contain it.
In particular, officials in Beijing have voiced unease about Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” policy (FOIP), accusing Tokyo and its regional partners of working to develop a collective security body equivalent to an “Asian NATO” to counter China.
Japanese government officials insist the FOIP push is not designed to target China. Still, after Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in Tokyo last week that they had reached a broad defense agreement enabling their troops to work more closely — with China’s rising regional influence in mind — Beijing reacted angrily.
And when Motegi hosted the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue last month, inviting top foreign affairs officials from the other three “Quad” countries — India, Australia and the U.S. — to discuss regional security matters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying slammed the gathering, saying that “organizing closed and exclusive cliques will not help to build mutual trust and cooperation.”’

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Tokyo, Nov. 28, 2020—Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, this week was struggling to defend his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, from possible prosecution for the violation of the country’s political donation law. As Suga is grilled in parliament for his blunder in handling the surging Covid-19 infection cases, his effort to protect the man who appointed Suga as successor may not last long. If prosecutors swoop in on Abe himself, Suga may be forced to step down or if lucky, call a snap general election. It could happen over the next several weeks, and that is believed to be the reason why Suga resisted calls for dissolving the lower house of parliament in January.
For years, Abe has been the target of media reporting for his and his wife’s questionable involvement in many transactions, most notably, the so-called Moritomo and Kakei campus building projects that his acquaintances had asked for Abe’s help. One of the two projects fell through. Now, the public attention is spotted on the payments of cherry blossom garden parties he hosted over the past five years. The law bans lawmakers from footing bills for hosting parties for political donors, and Abe’s office is suspected to have trashed receipts of bills from the hotel where the parties were held.
This week, Suga was grilled in parliamentary sessions and failed to give convincing replies on Abe. Plus, Suga has failed to curb surging Covid-19 cases, and his foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi was overwhelmed by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi during aTokyo bilateral sitting ‘like a dumb duck’ as Wang ferociously attacked Japan over sovereign issues of the Senkaku Islands.
(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwji-fjph6TtAhVoxIsBHYrwCjYQxfQBCEowAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fenglish.kyodonews.net%2Fnews%2F2020%2F11%2F173cd2c707a8-2-key-abe-staff-may-have-led-decision-to-illegally-cover-dinner-cost.html&usg=AOvVaw2iWIPg9QkfXuh7-QBqHVn6)

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TOKYO, Nov. 24, 2020—In a little over two decades, Japan’s squid catch in and around its territorial waters plummeted from 2.01 million tons in fiscal 1997, ended in March 2018, to 540,000 tons in fiscal 2019, ended in March 2020, the brutal impact of Chinese and North Korean illegal and environmentally-ruinous trawling.
If the Chinese continue their current pace of operations, experts warned that Japan’s squid resources would be annihilated in several years.
And yet, Japanese patrol boats are not taking overt action against Chinese fishing boats as they do not receive commands from their headquarters, a reflection of the absence of central government political and bureaucracy power for not angering Xi Jinping’s China.
The data was released recently by Japan’s national Fisheries Research Agency (FRA, http://www.fra.affrc.go.jp/shigen_hyoka/SCmeeting/2019-1/detail_surume_a_20201014.pdf).
Hiroshi Kubota, researcher of the FRA’s Niigata office on the Japan Sea coast told me Nov. 24 that his office’s research underscored aggressive Chinese trawling of ‘Surumeika (Japanese flying squid)’ in the Japan Sea as well as around Japanese waters, especially after 2015. ‘The Chinese began fishing for Surumeika in 2005 and they probably did not know how to catch large quantities,’ Kubota said.
Over the past 10 years, the Chinese have acquired the squid trawling technique, a special, one of the kind skill developed by Japanese fishermen over several decades. While Kubota stopped short of confirming, it was entirely possible that Chinese fishermen learned the skill from Chinese ‘vocational trainees’ who had worked on Japanese fishing boats to replenish young fishermen that were in short supply over the past two decades.
Kubota believes, however, that most Chinese squid fishing boats operate in duo in the Japan Sea, sandwiching squid between the two hulls with large fishing nets and hauled them onto the deck.
North Korean fishing boats also have been trawling the species but he speculated that their fishing activity was not of the magnitude that would endanger the squid resources, he said. Kubota said the Russians also have been catching Surumeika but the FRA’s research showed that the annual catch has been about 5,000 tons.
The FRA speculates that the Chinese government is purchasing fishing rights from North Korea to operate in the North’s exclusive economic zone (waters), which annexes Japan’s EEZ, and letting Chinese fishing ships to catch illegally near Japan’s Noto peninsula. Japan’s Fisheries Agency issued warnings to as many as 2,586 Chinese fishing boats during the nine months of 2020, a three-fold increase over the same period 2019, but the Chinese are giving deaf ears to the Japanese, according to the FRA.

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Chino, Japan, Nov. 15, 2020—Fifteen Asian economies – that account for 1/3rd of the global economy and population and larger than the European Union — Nov. 15 signed a definitive agreement to kick-start a China-lead free-trade zone, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that would dwarf a smaller regional FTA, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which president Trump spurned and in which President-elect Joe Biden has expressed to join.
The signing ceremony was held online in a ceremony arranged by Vietnam, this year’s host country of the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprising 10 countries) annual meeting, the oldest Asian economic framework. India did not sign for reasons of RCEP’s adverse economic impact on the country as well as its political relations with China.
RCEP is expected to enter into force in phases from 2021, and it is set to embrace TPP, the FTA regime of 11 Asian countries including Japan but excluding South Korea and one that outgoing president Trump dropped out. Biden last week made it known that the United States would like to join TPP but since RCEP trade and other details are effectively under China’s control, Washington would have to observe such Chinese terms.
China’s growing shadows over the entire Asian region is evident in the fact that South Korea, which is not a TPP economy, was forced to sign the RCEP agreement, and that Japan also had acquiesced to Beijing’s implicit pressure to expedite the signing amid the current political vacuum in Washington.

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TOKYO, Nov. 6, 2020—If finalized over the coming weeks, it will become the world’s largest free trade area, bigger than the European Union commanding nearly 30 percent of the global economy, and China is likely to play a pivotal role in steering the zone’s policy and administration for challenging the United States and the rest of the world. The agreement is likely to force the United States to change the current bilateral trade policy and return to multilateralism.
Japanese trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a parliamentary session Nov. 6 morning that negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are in the final stage and agreement could be reached during an ASEAN leadership meeting hosted by Vietnam and scheduled on-line around Nov. 15.
If agreed at that time, signing may take place over the next few months and the zone would commence working in two years or so enabling members’ free or low-tariff transactions of goods, services and intellectual properties.
RCEP was incubated in 2012 with Japan’s initiative in framework-building and negotiations for the 16 member countries spanned over the broad Asian region. The participating countries are: Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, and ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam). Combined, they represent approximately 40 percent of the world economy and more than half of the global population.
Over the intervening years, the lead role has shifted to China from Japan in tandem with Beijing’s rapid economic growth and its growing influence over the Asian region and the world. To deflect China’s influence, Japan hastened the signing and entering into force in December 2018 a smaller regional FTA zone called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) 11 that groups Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The TPP-11 represents 12 percent of the global economy.
RCEP will embrace the TPP-11 members if/when signed and entered into force, making it a larger economic zone than the EU’s 22 percent.
Japan, which is wedged between its multilateralism and Trump’s bilateralism, is pressured by China to promptly seal the RCEP agreement, or else Beijing would proceed with other RCEP members with the Chinese multilateralism helm, which Tokyo clearly does not want.
It’s the reason why Japan wants to seal the agreement as soon as possible, sources said. Just how hasty the Japanese are to do so is illustrated by the fact that Tokyo is going ahead despite the absence of India, which had been participating in RCEP negotiations over the past years, won’t take part in the agreement objecting to China’s rising influence on RCEP negotiation terms. So, the upcoming agreement would carry language that door is open for India to join, sources said. At the Shanghai International Import Expo, Chinese president X Jinping reiterated that Beijing is resolved to pursue multilateral trade with the world is ready to sign ‘high-standard’ FTAs, according to Xinhua News Agency.

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Nov. 5, 2020–‘A defeated Donald Trump resigned as president of the United States today, slipping away in the Washington, D.C. night and touching off an explosion of joyous celebration among his countrymen. Hours later, he flew on to Russia aboard his private jet.’
That night, a throng of reporters and photographers were staking out outside the Malacanang Palace in Manila sipping their fixture drink Bombay Safire Martinis and chatting when Trump, who ruined the country over four years, and his wife Melania, who stocked hundreds of expensive shoes, would emerge and surrender to the new regime of Joe Biden.
But Trump and his entire family members sneaked out of the White House aboard the Marine One helicopter that night to board his private jet waiting at Andrews Air Force Base. The destination: Russia.
If history repeats itself under a different situation, this might well happen as was for the Marcoses on Feb. 26, 1986, as reported with dateline Manila, by Richard Pyle:

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URGENT Marcos Resigns, Flees; Aquino Says ’Long Agony is Over
RICHARD PYLEFebruary 26, 1986
MANILA, Philippines (AP) _ A defeated Ferdinand E. Marcos resigned as president of the Philippines today, slipping away in the Manila night and touching off an explosion of joyous celebration among his countrymen. Hours later, he flew on to Guam aboard a U.S. aircraft. 
“Cory 3/8 Cory 3/8” Filipinos chanted in tribute to new President Corazon Aquino as they demonstrated by the thousands across the capital. A mob rampaged through Malacanang Palace, from which Marcos governed for 20 years. 
“We are finally free,” Mrs. Aquino declared on television.” ”… The long agony is over.” 

Marcos, who fled aboard American helicopters to the U.S. Air Force’s nearby Clark Air Base, was brought down by a combination of a “people’s power” uprising, military revolt and U.S. pressure. 
First official word of his resignation came in Washington, where Secretary of State George Shultz said the toppled Philippine leader would be “welcome to come to the United States.” But there was no immediate confirmation of where Marcos would go into foreign exile. 
Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the Philippines’ new military chief, also announced the beleaguered Marcos’ departure, saying he, his family and about 20 other people were airlifted by helicopter to Clark Air Base, 50 miles northwest of here, and a second group of about 80 palace associates traveled by boat and automobile to the U.S. Embassy grounds in Manila. 
The Marcoses spent the night at the Clark base, and then left for Guam aboard a U.S. aircraft at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, U.S. officials reported in Washington. 
The swift developments ended four days of uncertainty and political drama in Manila and two decades of highly personal Marcos rule over this impoverished archipelago nation of 55.5 million people, an important U.S. ally in the Far East. 
At least 16 people were reported slain in violence sparked by the revolt against Marcos. 
The longtime president was given a final push Monday by the Reagan administration, which called for a peaceful transition to a new government because of what it said was widespread fraud in the Feb. 7 presidential election, in which the 68-year-old Marcos claimed victory over Mrs. Aquino, widow of an assassinated political rival. 
Shultz said the United States had officially recognized the new Aquino government and anticipated no immediate problem in maintaining the two major U.S. military bases in the Philippines – Clark and Subic Bay Naval Base. 
“We are prepared to confer with the new government … to cooperate fully,” he said. 
Earlier today, both Marcos and Mrs. Aquino, 53, were inaugurated as president of rival Philippine governments in separate ceremonies. But within hours, both camps reported that Marcos, at the presidential palace, was engaged in lengthy telephone negotiations over his departure. 
American officials “had been negotiating like mad” with Marcos and the opposition to arrange the transition, U.S. congressional sources said. Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., said Marcos told him by transoceanic telephone early today he feared “the palace would be stormed.” 
At about 9 p.m. (8 a.m. EST), four U.S. Air Force H-3 helicopters airlifted the Marcos family and associates from the palace grounds and flew them to Clark, where they landed about a half-hour later, Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims said in Washington. 
Ramos did not say who was evacuated besides Marcos, his wife, Imedla, 57, son Ferdinand Jr., 27, daughters Imee Manotoc, 30, and Irene Araneta, 25, and three grandchildren. Sims said Gen. Fabian Ver, ousted chief of staff and Marcos confidant, was among those evacuated. 
Sims said in Washington the U.S. military is prepared to fly Marcos to the United States if he so wishes. 
Manila radio station DZRH later quoted a Marcos loyalist, Romulo Fontanilla, as saying, “Without our knowledge he (Marcos) left us. Even the soldiers are not here anymore.” The station said only a small protective force was left behind at the palace. 
As word of Marcos’ departure flashed across this turbulent capital, jubilant throngs of Filipinos set bonfires outside the palace. 
“You’re hearing the start of the rebirth of democracy 3/8” a radio announcer broadcast over the sounds of celebrating demonstrators. 
Hundreds of unruly Filipinos broke into the abandoned palace and began looting the luxurious compound. Associated Press photographer Bullit Marquez said he saw one person lying dead in the downstairs lobby of the palace’s administration building. 
The radio announcer made an appeal: “This is a very momentous event in the history of our country and we should not shed blood anymore.We have shed enough The palace is the people’s home… . Please do not wreck it.” 
More than 10,000 people danced, cheered, applauded and chanted Mrs. Aquino’s nickname at the gate of the palace. The remaining few palace guards surrendered. 
Long lines of cars and public transportation “jeepneys,” packed with cheering Filipinos, inched along Manila’s boulevards with horns blaring and flags waving. 
“It’s liberation day 3/8 It’s liberation day 3/8” chanted one group. Bonfires blazed. Happy Filipinos waved signs proclaiming “People’s Power.” 
Mrs. Aquino made her first public appearance on television at 2:45 a.m. Wednesday, smiling at the camera and speaking just 52 seconds. 
Saying she had been advised by U.S. Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth that Marcos was at Clark Air Base, she declared: “We are finally free, and we can be truly proud of the unprecedented way in which we achieved our freedom, with courage, with determination and most important, in peace. 
“A new life starts for our country tomorrow, a life filled with hope and I believe a life that will be blessed with peace and progress.” 
She urged people at Malacanang Palace to “please stay calm and observe sobriety for the sake of our country.” 
Ramos, who led the military mutiny with Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, ordered his soldiers to prevent lynching or looting of property of Marcos associates. 
Mrs. Aquino’s vice presidential running-mate, former Sen. Salvador H. Laurel, speaking on NBC’s “Today” show, said Enrile and Ramos had spoken to Marcos for almost two hours about his resignation. 
In Washington, Shultz praised Marcos’ decision and said of the Philippine people, “They have resolved this issue non-violently and in a way that does them honor.” 
The secretary of state said that “basically, this is not something the United States has done.” But he acknowledged that U.S. officials had “a great deal of interaction” with Marcos in recent days as he pondered his decision. 
A U.S. congressional source, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, said first lady Imelda Marcos, politically ambitious in her own right, had been an obstacle – “Apparently she wanted to stay and hoped to succeed him eventually.” 
Marcos had sounded stubborn in his inauguration ceremony, telling supporters gathered at the palace, “We will overcome these obstacles … we will advance for the future.” The broadcast of the ceremony was cut short, apparently by rebel hands. 
At her rival inauguration earlier today, Mrs. Aquino said her administration would be dedicated to “morality and decency in government, freedom and democracy.” 
As the two rivals were inaugurated, fighting broke out at a Manila area police station and a television transmitting tower held by pro-Marcos forces. A police general said nine people were killed iun fighting at the police station, and pro-Aquino forces killed three pro-Marcos soldiers at the television tower. 
Marcos took the oath of office for a new six-year term from the Supreme Court’s chief justice, Ramon Aquino. 
Outside the palace, rival groups threw stones at each other. Marcos supporters shouted, “Capture the snakes 3/8 Capture the snakes 3/8 Martial law 3/8 Martial law 3/8” Marcos ruled under martial law regulations from 1972-1980. 
Through most of today, Marcos remained in the palace with his family as loyal troops kept jeering pro-Aquino supporters at a distance. Earlier in the day, soldiers fired on rebel supporters near Malacanang, and hospital officials said eight people were hit by gunfire and five injured while trying to flee. 
Mrs. Aquino was sworn in as head of the rebels’ provisional government at a country club ringed by troops who rallied to the insurgency declared Saturday by Enrile and Ramos, deputy armed forces commander. She took the oath from Claudio Teehankee, an associate Supreme Court justice. 
“I and Salvador H. Laurel are taking power … in the name of the Filipino people,” she told thousands of jubilant supporters. 
Mrs. Aquino said Laurel would be her vice president and prime minister, Enrile her defense minister and Ramos, promoted to full general from lieutenant general, would become military chief of staff. 
“As a first step to restore confidence in the government,” she said, “I will expect all appointed public officials to submit their resignations.” 
Mrs. Aquino’s husband Benigno Aquino, was assassinated in 1983 as he stepped off a plane upon returning from three years of self-exile in the United States. Aquino, a former senator, had been Marcos’ most powerful opponent, and Mrs. Aquino emerged as his ppolitical successor. 
Marcos’ New Society Movement party controls the 109-member National Assembly which on Feb. 15 declared him re-elected by a 1.5-million-vote margin. Mrs. Aquino’s supporters and growing numbers of military, business, religious and political leaders say the decision was based on rigged vote tallies. 
Nine people were killed in the shootout in suburban Makati between police officers and a sergeant who led a group of eight to 10 men and claimed to support Mrs. Aquino. A spokesman for Mrs. Aquino denied any connnecton with the group. 
In suburban Quezon City, pro-Aquino forces battled Marcos loyalists occupying a Channel 9 television transmitter tower and building near the government broadcast complex seized Monday by rebels. 
The rebels shot and killed three army troopers sniping from the tower. Pro- Aquino soldiers later climbed up the 300-foot-high platform and brought the bodies to the ground. 
Enrile and Ramos had arrived at the Club Filipino for Mrs. Aquino’s inauguration in their first departure since Sunday from rebel headquarters at Camp Crame, four miles east of Marcos’ palace. 
Before leaving Camp Crame, Ramos told repporters, “Some 85 percent of the armed forces of the Philippines is solidly under our control.”

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TOKYO, Nov. 5, 2020—Rarely has Japan’s top court revealed the nature of its deliberations and shortness of independence from legislature and administration, aka, bureaucracy, so nakedly than in the recent two labor cases.
On Oct. 13, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal of non-regular (contract) workers of the Osaka Medical College Hospital demanding that, based on the the labor law that provides same work same pay requirements, the pay gaps between them and regular workers be corrected and that the non-regular workers be treated equally by paying them bonuses as for regulars. (Article 20 of the labor contract law)
The court decided that regular workers are hired and paid bonuses for stable labor provisioning – meaning non-regular workers are meant as labor forces to supplement labor shortages.
On Oct. 15, the top court ruled that Japan Post violated the labor contract law for discriminating against contract workers by not providing paid leaves, holiday work, family and other allowances.
By nature, the bottom-line demands in the two cases are for equal worker treatment under the same work same pay principle guaranteed by law, yet the top court intentionally interpreted relevant laws
for differing reasons:
Japan Post’s mail delivery service for one has been affected by chronic labor shortages that a further worker shortage could threaten its existence. Japan Post non-regular workers total more than 180,000, or nearly one-half of its total workforce.
The reason why the court struck down the Osaka hospital workers’ demand is that upholding it would become a precedent in igniting similar demands in other same work same pay cases as well as pre-trial cases, forcing the state to give the same benefits and treatment to more than 20 million non-regular workers in Japan.
The two cases were more than a mouthful for the Japanese top court to handle in magnitude, and thus its judges must have made the decisions by contacting or implicitly communicating with the prime minister’s office, ministries concerned where bureaucrats consider day to day business, and even the ruling political party.
This is a reason why, unlike the U.S. supreme court, Japanese top court decisions list names of judges that dissent and their names are not recognized by the public. And it’s the way how the ruling party and the legislature want the top court to be.
In a similar vein, Japanese lawyers act as much like as supreme court judges in handling their clients. While doctors may gawking at the PC monitor, not the face and body, in examining the patient, Japanese lawyers look around the court room to see whether their law school necktie connection seniors and juniors are there on the justice bench or the other side of the case before taking up cases. If he/she finds one, then the lawyer would make adjustments, if not making outright coordination with his/her counterpart.

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TOKYO, Nov. 3, 2020—On Oct. 30, 2020, the Japanese Foreign Ministry lifted most coronavirus entry and reentry quarantine regulations for nine Asia-Pacific regions and countries, apparently to prioritize tourism-driven economic recovery over public safety against the pandemic.
Visitors from South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China (Hong Kong and Macau included), Brunei, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Japan residents of those countries and regions qualify for the regulation relaxation, the ministry said. Those entering or reentering from those countries and regions are now in principle waived coronavirus PCR testing and submission o PCR negative test certificates they obtained at embarkation points 72 hours prior to arrival in Japan, it said.
Japan residents of the nine countries and regions totaled about1.8 million out of the total Japan residents of foreign nationals totaling 2.933 million as of December 2019, according to Japanese government data. During the first 9 months of 2019, about 40 million foreign visitors visited Japan, according to government data. Of the total, about 75 percent came from the nine countries and regions.
Coronavirus travel restrictions remain in force for visitors and Japan residents of the United States and European countries.

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Chino, Japan, Oct. 30, 2020– New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s first order of business is his government’s outright intervention into private sector business, demanding that phone carriers lower smart phone telecom fees without giving legitimate reasons.
Suga’s instruction to his minister in charge of the telecom industry was hardly a surprise given that his predecessor Shinzo Abe used (a used) his power to enforce numerous unreasonable and unethical acts: distributing face masks to all Japanese households that are too small for adults to wear, through his cabinet’s special business connections; selling a coveted piece of land site at deeply below market rates to a developer by instructions bureaucrats to fabricate its value; and ordering bureaucrats to awarding veterinarian college license to his friend’s school, among many.
In other words, while Abe was abusing the bureaucracy, Suga, who served as Abe’s second powerful cabinet minister, began direct intervention into the private sector, perhaps becoming the first prime minister to do so.
Suga told three smart phone carriers, NYT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank to lower their telecom user fees — directly and without saying whether the three telecoms violates law. The telecoms are feeling overt threat of Suga’s retaliation if they refuse as they need to vie for the next radio wave band called the platinum band.
What Suga does next is raising concern of business circles. Abe kept an arms length distance from the Nippon Keidanren business lobby. Suga, sources say, wants the lobby to be under his wing, not an impossible ambition because its board of directors are all old aged and pro-LDP, which is Suga’s ruling party. Suga may call a general election over the next few months. If LDP wins, he definitely will start acting like other world leaders becoming autocratic and directly meddling into private sector business.