I see this story in the Japan Times today, about an Upper House lawmaker who goes by her first name, Renho.
I have been saying for several months now–and maybe it’s a little bit of my sarcasm shining through—that it seems like only the Labor and Health Minister Akira Nagatsuma is doing any work in the Hatoyama Goverment, and the rest of the bunch are just jacking off or something.
But then, I finally read something about Renho, whose campaign posters I have seen for the past two years as I’ve walked through Meguro ward on the way to Setagaya’s IID. It seemed strange that she only had one name, but I thought it might be a celebrity or campaign gimmick, like Cher. There is only one Cher, the musical one. And so maybe there is naturally only one Renho.
I am a foreigner. Stuff will just go over my head, you know?
Well, the interview piece talks at length about what Renho’s philosophies of life and government are, and it sounds like she has been cracking some heads against the desk when it comes to getting answers out of the Japanese bureaucracy. This is a good thing, because this group sounds like it would be the kind that would set up a study committee to see if it should answer your question, if you pose one. (Hello, Temple University controllers office, ehem?)
Renho is not messing around. A 42-year-old who trained as a lawyer and who sounds like she had an eclectic career afterwards, she gets down to business. This is what the everyday voter wants, I believe.
You notice that it’s someone who, in another country, might be old enough to run the country that is given the job as Inquisitor of a bureaucracy that’s probably the thing with the power. So that means Renho has to work. There was an election, yes, but the ones who are standing out in the Hatoyama Government are the nincompoops. And generally, seem to be people who aren’t making much of an effort at all. The younger generation, which in the political sempai-kohai system means 40-somethings, get to do the actual work.
Neither Renho pere–nor mere–was a politician, and so that means even more work. (Excuse the French.)
I don’t know how the July election is going to turn out, but something tells me that you are going to be hearing a lot more from Upper House member Renho here.
Hoofin 