Aso names Kaneko to take transport post
Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Cabinet suffered a serious blow Sunday with the resignation of transport minister Nariaki Nakayama, who was under fire for several gaffes, including saying Japan is “ethnically homogenous.”
Aso appointed former administrative reform minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko, 65, to succeed Nakayama.
Kaneko, a seven-term representative from the Gifu No. 4 district, served as state minister in charge of administrative reform from 2003 to 2004 under Junichiro Koizumi.
Nakayama stepped down from the post just four days after he was appointed as part of the new administration.
His miscues drew strong criticism from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito coalition as well as the opposition parties.
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Nakayama resigns over gaffes
Transport minister Nariaki Nakayama stepped down Sunday after just five days on the job, amid mounting criticism of a series of controversial remarks, dealing a serious blow to the new administration of Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) and other opposition parties, which had called for Nakayama’s resignation or dismissal, will hold Aso responsible for the appointment during Diet debate from Wednesday.
A string of remarks by Nakayama has drawn protest from the Japan Teachers Union, the Ainu Association of Hokkaido and the governor of Chiba Prefecture, among others.
Aso accepted Nakayama’s letter of resignation in a bid to contain the fallout, with the Lower House dissolution and election expected in the coming weeks.
Aso said Sunday that Nakayama’s remarks were “extremely inappropriate” and offered an apology. He also acknowledged his responsibility for Nakayama’s appointment.
In his constituency of Miyazaki, Nakayama, who served as education minister under former Prime Minister Jun-ichiro Koizumi, told reporters that the union was a “cancer on Japanese education.”
In a speech earlier in the day, Nakayama criticized the union’s opposition to mandatory raising of the Hinomaru national flag and singing of the Kimigayo national anthem at schools, and enforcing ethics education.
“We should disband the Japan Teachers Union one way or another,” Nakayama told a meeting organized by the LDP’s Miyazaki prefectural chapter. “If we borrow the style of Koizumi, ‘Let’s destroy the Japan Teachers Union,’ I will spearhead that movement.”
Nakayama also said that Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), which is supported by the teachers and other unions, should be disbanded.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809290053.html
Nakayama’s gaffes
Was he so overwhelmed at becoming a minister that he lost control of his tongue? On his second day as the new minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, Nariaki Nakayama faced the media and let out a barrage of astounding verbal gaffes.
On the topic of foreign visitors to Japan, and asked how he plans to increase their numbers, he said, “Japan is a very inward-looking nation, you could say it is a homogeneous race …”
Only three months ago the Diet unanimously approved a historic resolution recognizing the Ainu as an indigenous people of Japan. It was supposed to have been the unified will of the Diet that pledged to protect the honor and dignity of the indigenous peoples, or was Nakayama opposed to it?
Nakayama retracted these comments, saying, they “led to misunderstandings.” However, his comments beg the question of his qualifications as a Diet lawmaker, not to mention as a Cabinet minister.
When he was education minister, Nakayama also was well-known for his gaffes, saying things like, “It is really good that history textbooks now have fewer references to comfort women and forced labor,” “there was no such term as comfort women to begin with.”
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809290039.html
Nakayama ‘to resign’ over series of gaffes
Construction and Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama intends to resign from his post to take responsibility for a series of verbal gaffes he has made since his appointment last week, sources said Saturday.
He likely will submit his resignation to Prime Minister Taro Aso on Sunday and Aso is likely to accept it, the sources said.
Minister Nakayama resigns over offensive comments
Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Minister Nariaki Nakayama has resigned to take responsibility for his controversial comments that included his assertion that the lack of progress on plans to expand Narita Airport could be blamed on local residents who held out against expansion for personal gain [and that Japan was an “ethnically homogeneous state.”].
His resignation occurs less than five days since the inauguration of the new Cabinet on Sep. 24, calling into question the prime minister’s responsibility for appointing him.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20080928p2a00m0na002000c.html
Steps eyed for temps’ plight
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry may submit a bill to the Diet this fall that will urge, but not require, temp staffing agencies to pursue regular employment for the workers they dispatch in a bid to bring more stability to the lives of the underpaid.
Although experts welcome such an overture, they believe the measure will do little to improve the livelihood of so-called irregular employees unless it is binding.
The nation’s ranks of temp and irregular workers generally lead unstable lives with uncertain futures.
Such income instability, some argue, may have been a motivating factor behind a temp worker’s murderous vehicular and stabbing rampage in June in the Akihabara district in Tokyo. The suspect was reportedly frustrated by his employer’s restructuring plan.
Satoshi Kamata, a prominent journalist who follows labor issues, praised the ministry’s overall direction. The ministry may have realized the deregulation it has pursued helped create the income divide and it is now trying to close it, he said.
Dispatching workers was legalized in 1985, when corporations demanded professionals specialized in information technology and other fields. After the burst of the bubble economy, companies reduced their ranks of permanent full-time employees and tapped the temp workforce to slash labor costs.
The government initially limited the legal scope of dispatch worker professions. But in 1999, it legalized the dispatch of workers in most occupations. The number of dispatched workers nationwide jumped from 330,000 in 2000 to 1.3 million in 2007.
As temp employment became widespread, so, too, did the wage disparity between such workers and regular company employees. According to the ministry’s 2005 survey of 45- to 49-year-olds, regular workers in general earned ¥5.9 million a year, while temps earned only ¥3.1 million.
Irregular workers constantly face abrupt layoffs, leaving them insecure and even desperate, Kamata noted.
Corporations “have long continued to treat temp staff in a way that inevitably makes them feel desperate and unable to lead normal lives,” he said, adding this pushes some to commit crimes. “The situation has reached a critical point.”
‘Inappropriate remarks’ criticized
Nariaki Nakayama’s controversial comments drew fire from both the ruling and opposition parties Friday.
“As a minister, these were inappropriate remarks. He [Nakayama] must be more careful,” said Yoshio Urushibara, Diet Policy Committee chairman of New Komeito.
Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes
New tourism minister Nariaki Nakayama wasted no time putting his foot in it. The day after stating that Japanese do not like foreigners and that the country is ethnically homogeneous, Nakayama apologized Friday and retracted his statements.
“I am sorry for having caused trouble to the people,” the land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister told a news conference. “I retract my remarks that I think fell too short (of an explanation) or went too far.”
Nakayama, who took up his post on Wednesday, added that he had no intention of resigning to take responsibility for his remarks.
Nakayama’s gaffe comes just ahead of the Oct. 1 launch of a tourism agency charged with drawing 10 million foreign visitors to the country by 2010.
Asked how more foreign travelers might be enticed to come to Japan in the face of opposition from some locals, Nakayama responded, “Definitely, (Japanese) do not like or desire foreigners.”
He added that Japan is extremely inward-looking and “ethnically homogeneous.”
However, he also said it is important for Japanese to open up the nation and their minds to welcome foreign travelers.
Nakayama is not the first politician to land in hot water for referring to Japan as a homogeneous nation. When in 1986 then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone described Japan as a nation with a homogeneous race, he was met with a strong backlash mainly from the Ainu, an aboriginal people from north Japan.
Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, called Nakayama’s remarks on homogeneity Thursday extremely rude and told reporters he “needs to give up his post, not the remarks.”
Gaffes by minister put Aso in a bind
Barely 48 hours into the new administration, Prime Minister Taro Aso was facing his first crisis Friday with calls for the dismissal of transport minister Nariaki Nakayama over a stream of verbal gaffes.
When asked about what Japan should do to promote tourism, Nakayama said, “Japan is a very inward-looking nation, you could say it is a homogeneous race.”
While in itself not particularly shocking, the remark seemed to deny the existence of ethnic Chinese and Koreans in Japan, among others.
A similar comment by then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1986 led to protests from Ainu groups.
On Friday, Nakayama was forced to retract his comments.
“Since this is the first time I am working in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, there were many things I did not understand,” Nakayama said.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809260354.html
Foreign contract workers to sue Kubota over status
About 10 foreign contract employees of major machinery manufacturer Kubota Corp. have decided to file a group lawsuit against the company claiming their employment status is unjustifiable and the company should continue to employ them after their contract expires next April, it has been learned.
In February 2006, the Osaka-based firm was warned that factory workers it used from staffing agencies were under the company’s direct control, effectively making them equal to dispatch workers. This type of practice is illegal.