Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Still In The News

In vindication of my supposition of yesterday (Why not take a victory lap? The opportunity comes so infrequently...) Democratic Party of Japan Acting Secretary General and Ozawa Ichiro ally Suzuki Katsumasa tried to drop off the resignation letters of 21 members of the Ozawa Group from their party posts, bringing the total number of Ozawa allies who have resigned their party posts to 29 (J). One has so say "tried to" because secretary-general Koshi'ishi Azuma has so far refused to accept any of the letters.

Suzuki's fruitless but well-covered document drop-off means that Ozawa's opposition to the Cabinet's Friday decision to approve the bill raising the consumption tax to 10% is at the top of the news yet again. The resignations of four sub-cabinet level government officials was the takeaway on Friday night and Saturday; the resignation of Kiuchi Takatane from the DPJ was the headliner on Sunday and Monday morning.

What will the Ozawa group spring upon us today -- if the incoming storm (E) does not interrupt their plans?

Speaking of fruitless, yesterday Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura Osamu telephoned the four DPJ members who resigned their government posts to try to convince them to reconsider their actions. I know he is supposed to be in charge of the machinery of government. However, could the party/government not find someone more suited to the task, someone who is either intimidating or charming or better yet both?

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