What an Aso!

It will be fun to watch Japan's new finance minister put his foot in his mouth, repeatedly, over the next few years.

Taro Aso was known to be loose-lipped as prime minister.  Now, he's continuing that trend in his new portfolio.

Aso reportedly told a news conference this week that elderly people in Japan should "hurry up and die" to save the country money.  Aso is backing away from his comments - which he of course claims were misquoted - and has issued issued an apology.   But his remarks can't help the fledgling government's popularity.

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/01/22/japans-finance-minister-seeks-early-remedy-for-death-gaffe/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_Japan_JapanRealTime

Aso's comments also may be an indication of how powerless the new government is in the face of Japan's demographic crisis.  One quarter of the population is now over the age of 60, and Japanese couples are producing fewer children than neary any other country in the industrialised world.

So how is Japan going to cope with a population that could be 40% elderly by the year 2050?

Welcoming more immigrants is one possible solution. So would be allowing more women into the executive suite.  More females at the top would lessen the workload for the typically overworked Japanese "salaryman," freeing them up to go home and... uh... make babies.

However, immigration and the rights of women are two areas of cultural concern in Japan, a country that is about as stunted socially as it is advanced technologically.

Comments by Asos like Aso won't help the situation.

Ironic, don't you think?

Alanis Morissette certainly wasn't singing about Canada's awful Sun News Network (or Stunned News, as I call it), but she might have well been.

Check out this piece on the neo-con network that some call Fox News north.  Sun News isn't just Fox north, it's Fox awful...  with programming that concentrates almost solely on extricating the liberal bogeyman from the lives of ordinary Canadians.

Sun News' favourite target is Canada's national broadcaster the CBC.  Not a day goes by, it seems, when some mouth-breathing Sun commentator isn't bashing the CBC and its taxpayer funded base.

Oh how the tables are turned.  Now (and this is the ironic part), the government-bashing network is seeking government help in broadening its base and finding viewers... apparently being loud and obnoxious isn't enough.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/21/sun-news-loss-crtc-basic-cable_n_2522396.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

Trouble is, Canadians tend to be small-l liberal by nature, lovers of horrible, free-enterprise killing things like health care and gun control.   So even if owners of the Stun are successful in gaining a spot on the regular cable dial, I doubt anyone would watch.

Oh and another irony... Sun News is owned by Quebecor, a company that has benefitted from cosy political ties and millions in tax breaks in the past

Another one soon bites the dust...

Introducing Forty-Four Keys

Hey everyone!  Welcome to my new blog.

Of course, you're going to ask why the world needs a new blog from another loudmouth with an opinion to offer.  Well, why not?  Loudmouths are people too!

Seriously, I hope to offer comments from time-to-time on topics ranging from media to politics to sports to, well, anything that interests me.

Also, I will write about my job in the media here in Tokyo.  We're developing a new video project called Business in Japan Television, of which I am the host and producer.  So I will present news and views relating to business, television and life in Japan.

Hope you will check in on occasion.  I know I'll probably tick some of you off with my ramblings; apologies in advance!

Speaking of sports... wanted to share this video from one of the most amazing shootout goals you'll ever see.  Who the heck is Damien Brunner?

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hdpid=49&id=194796