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Japan's Secrecy Law
MistaNova:
Not sure if any of you folks here care but I thought I'd bring this up since this seems to be the hot topic in Japan.
Japan Secrecy Law Stirs Fear of Limits on Freedoms
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press
Japan's more powerful lower house of Parliament approved a state secrecy bill late Tuesday that imposes stiffer penalties on bureaucrats who leak secrets and journalists who seek them, despite criticism the government is making a heavy-handed effort to hide what it's doing and suppress press freedom.
The public is concerned because the government won't say exactly what becomes secret. Critics say the law could allow the government to withhold more information and ultimately undermine Japan's democracy.
The bill was approved after hours of delay due to protests by opposition lawmakers. The ruling block and its supporters hope the weaker upper house will pass the legislation next month.
The ruling party says the law is needed to encourage the United States and other allies to share national security information with Japan. With the creation of a U.S.-style National Security Council in his office, it is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to strengthen Japan's role in global security and create a more authoritarian government at home.
"This law is designed to protect the safety of the people," Abe said, promising to relieve citizens' concerns through further parliamentary debate.
The bill allows heads of ministries and agencies to classify 23 vaguely worded types of information related to defense, diplomacy, counterintelligence and counterterrorism, almost indefinitely.
Critics say it might sway authorities to withhold more information about nuclear power plants, arguing they could become terrorist targets. Or they warn that officials may refuse to disclose key elements of free trade talks to protect concessions that would make Tokyo or a partner look bad.
The move is welcomed by the United States, which wants a stronger Japan to counter China's military rise, but raises fears in Japan that the country could be edging back toward its militaristic past, when authorities severely restrained free speech.
Read the full article here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japan-secrecy-law-stirs-fear-limits-freedoms-21013309?singlePage=true
As you can see almost none of the Japanese people are wondering why the Abe administration is in a hurry to please the US by passing this law (worried about leaks to China my ass, the US probably just wants another information laundering hub for the NSA and Abe's expecting something in return), but instead are worried about how they won't be able to voice their opinions anymore. Not like it matters though since the reality is that transperancy in Japan has never existed, anything the mainstream media dishes out is nothing more than government PR and critical thinking is pretty much non-existant in Japan. Ergo, the Japanese are unaware of how freedom of speech is nonexistant and how even if things were more transparent and the Japanese public had more information, they wouldn't do shit with it.
Case in point? Reports about how the Japanese military and government knew about how the US were going to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the bombings have been surfacing these past few years, NHK even did a documentary on it, and the public didn't do shit.
Aladin:
Your country is a strategic allie of the Unites States.
They try 2 contain Russia and China.
see the link for the ground reality:
http://www.pbase.com/aladin22222/image/149610291
Fraxxx:
Look at how China is flexing muscles for a long time now. Look at the recent events regarding the Senkaku islands. People are never more willing to accept shit like that law (and like you said, Japanese are willing to accept a lotta shit to begin with) if they feel an exterior (correct wording?) threat. Hell, I bet even the US military presence doesn't look all that bad anymore if the Japanese people think of what China could be like as the sole regional hegemon.
MistaNova:
--- Quote from: Aladin on November 27, 2013, 01:56:51 AM ---Your country is a strategic allie of the Unites States.
They try 2 contain Russia and China.
see the link for the ground reality:
http://www.pbase.com/aladin22222/image/149610291
--- End quote ---
I agree with the trying to contain Russia and China part.
Although Japan is really more of a puppet rather than an ally.
--- Quote from: Fraxxx on November 27, 2013, 03:35:21 AM ---Look at how China is flexing muscles for a long time now. Look at the recent events regarding the Senkaku islands. People are never more willing to accept shit like that law (and like you said, Japanese are willing to accept a lotta shit to begin with) if they feel an exterior (correct wording?) threat. Hell, I bet even the US military presence doesn't look all that bad anymore if the Japanese people think of what China could be like as the sole regional hegemon.
--- End quote ---
I agree with your post, but judging from how the Japanese are "outraged" at this law (or at least they think they are, more than likely they're just mad because the media is telling them to be mad) it doesn't seem like they took the bait that this was to protect them from China. Then again, I doubt a majority of the population even cares about the stuff going on at the Senkaku islands or what China's been doing.
MistaNova:
On a related note the Lower House just passed another legislation to create the NSC for Japan by total vote of 213 to 18 (which goes really well with the "My Number" law that was passed a while back). And the media and public has not made any sort of noise about this (at least not according to my contacts who still live in Japan).
So yeah, the Japanese complains about how the government is making things less transparent and yet they just let these two laws similar laws pass right under their noses out of sheer ignorance (and maybe some self-censorship). Idiots.
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