"Hatoyama Vs. Obama -- The Scandal That Nobody Will Report" (Obama in Japan: My Translation)

Shukan Bunshun Weekly Magazine (Translated to English) ^ | 22 November 2009 (26 November 2009 Edition) | Shukan Bunshun Staff Writers

[AmericanInTokyo]

"(Japan Prime Minister) Hatoyama Vs.Obama -- The Scandal That Nobody Will Report" (由紀夫 vs オバマ「書かれざるスキャンダル」）

Reporters at the weekly Shukan Bunshun news magazine here in Tokyo, Japan have written a rather caustic report about President Obama's 23 hours in Tokyo last week, from a frank Japanese perspective, exclusively in the Japanese language, and released to the newstands just now. In that sense this is more or less an *FR Exclusive*. A number of eye-opening claims, pieces of information and details emerge about Obama's brief stay in Japan as part of his disastrous Asian trip--over and above the very controversial, near-"dogeza" bow delivered as a Head of State of a superpower to the Emperor of Japan. There is criticism in this article for both the Obama Administration and their behavior, as well as within the Japanese government either in response or through their own incompetence. Either way, it does not make for a very pretty picture and is squarely at odds with the Administration which announced upon arrival in the US that the Asian trip was a "success". By what benchmark?

This Japanese magazine is a major weekly publication in Japan. I have as a courtesy provided a synopsis English translation, not word-for-word, of the main gist of the article. As always, the original Japanese authors' Japanese language version of the article prevails over the English. For general discussion, research and historical purposes.

[thecodont]

He seems to attend these highly important summit meetings without doing any advance preparation at all. Fly over, preen for the cameras, insult his hosts, and play it by ear because he’s too smart to need any prepping seems to be his basic method.

This causes me to wonder how he performed in school.

[thecodont]

Thank you very much for the (loose) translation.

BO and his gang have no love for America and therefore it follows they have a tin ear for diplomacy. There isn’t even the slightest hint of good intentions clumsily executed.

BO is making our country look worse and worse.

[what's up]

Thanks. I suspect Dubya did the trip to shore up discouraged conservatives who are dealing with a leftist juggernaut. Probably to get his face in there too because he knew Obowma's face would soon be dominating Japanese airwaves.

I'm pretty sure George still deals in politics, but he has a good time doing so.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Thank you! It's now moving on some blogs.

But it is also kind of (funny?) to watch some charlatan-like blogs lift this academic work (such as a summary translation which does not happen by itself) and slap it up on their site, with absolutely no reference to or credit to Free Republic, and link to the Japanese magazine website directly, and then pass it off to look like it is their own work and efforts. Blogs like "Elite Trader". Whatever that is. Guess there will be more. Well. At least people will be reading, right?

[AmericanInTokyo]

The “bow” is pretty much a dead issue here now, but they did watch and comment on all the excitement it had in the USA. It would have been a much bigger story IMHO if it had been stuation that did not involve the Emperor directly. They probably wanted to be rather quiet about it out of deference to His Majesty and just let it slide. Obama could also be forgiven, out of the generousness of the hearts of many Japanese in cases like this, for his ignorance. (They could care less about 44, too, though.)

[Psalm 144]

Sadly, there will always be more ego than honesty I am afraid. It is very irritating to watch one’s work copied and disseminated with no attribution.

But, we appreciate you HERE, and to paraphrase and refute Lenin a bit - quality has a quality all its own, too.

[Psalm 144]

“BO is making our country look worse and worse.”

I think that except for the international ‘yoof’ the world at large recognizes what an alien interloper BHO is, and that zast portions of American reject him in totality.

[depressed in 06]

... but on the American side it was only "Team Obama" staff and hardly anybody else.

Once again the arrogance of the anointed One comes through as only his magnificent presence will make everything better.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I don't know for a fact, but I suspect he did just as you said and "winged" it and kept the US Embassy in Tokyo locally out of the loop, for they must have been ready to advise him on those protocol procedures and save him a world of pain (and 3% in public opinion polls!). I would imagine that in their arrogant, elitist, Washington DC is the Center of the Universe US government way of looking at things, they knew better, (why, of course, much better then to have consulted with the local unwashed saps in flyover country), they flew into town, they made a mess of the place like Bulls in a Japan Closet--and probably don't even know the dimension that they messed things up--they did not need any local guidance or advice, flew just as quickly out of town, and now they are living the embarrassment and the US Embassy people have to clean up the mess and put a brave face on things. After all, they have careers on the line, too, so you won't here much stuff, unless it's frustrated backchannel off record, I suppose.

[1000 silverlings]

I think I referred to these two leaders in an earlier thread as Pot and Kettle

Since Obamasan is now skinny as a rail, they can all be Pol(e) Pot and Kettle. Kettle can even be their last names, Mao and Pao Kettle. They make the Beverley Hillbillies look like diplomats

[AmericanInTokyo]

In this original article, yes, they actually did call it that. Word for word.

"Team Obama". They put it in quotes.

”チーム・オバマ”

[Bean Counter]

Excellent job and Thank You for that translation. It is always interesting to get raw data like this, and frequently the view from overseas is radically different than our own.

It is truly frightening to consider what a rank amateur we have in the White House, and even more frightening to consider who is in the numbers 2,3, and 4 positions behind him...

Hold on and stock up...

[NotSoModerate]

Obama’s an amateur. Thanks for the post, by the way.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Asahi Shimbun, a very liberal, huge daily mass circulation newspaper here in Tokyo, today posted a graph of The Obama Slide for the Japanese to see. I mean good, above-the-fold stuff.

Not to mention a good story by their reporter Hiroshi Itoh explaining how such a thing could happen to a man with god-like status as Obama (as the Japanese themselves were led to believe) is now suffering plummeting popularity. Mainichi is running it. Yomiuri too, conservative Sankei in the vanguard. Reuters, AP, Jiji, Kyodo, the TV networks. It is spreading fast. If one picks it up, they all eat it up. Here, here is Asahi's graph on Obama from a few hours ago:

Japanese had been rather hesitant to report on this phenomenon all through the Tea Parties and the Town Halls, but I bet this little series of episodes by Obama in Tokyo

(and the wider performance in Asia:

has set them off and it is open season politically, they won't feel as fettered now to report these negative stateside poll numbers on Obama and better yet, dive into the details with their readership in a good, explanatory tone, and place the stories at ever high positions of prominence in the papers.

[proudpapa]

Socialist Party leader Fukushima???

I wonder if Shima is Japanese for Conservatives

[AmericanInTokyo]

Actually, of all things, it means, (literally) “Lucky Island”. ;-)

[Republic of Texas]

I’ve never been to Japan, but it seems to me they have many rules of conduct, all of which are widely known to anyone who cares to know them. When on their soil, adhere to their rules, and all is fine. Apparently that simple advice confuses the White House.

[Dinah Lord]

Domo arigato.

Very interesting, AmericaninTokyo and I look forward to your report expatguy.

[SueRae]

Wow. Just astonishing. And you can be sure - we’ve read NOTHING like this here in the U.S.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yomiuri Shimbun Daily News (along with a story by their report Mr. Homma) carrying a chart comparing Obama's popularity slide to that of Clinton and Bush, actually comparing all three's first year in office.

Even the Wall Street Journal-like NIKKEI--Japan Economic Journal--is getting in on the action today, featuring a story on Obama's slide, and a grassroots, tabloidish sports newspaper for average salarymen, carries the big headline "Have The American People Already Soured On Him? Obama Slides Under 50%"

Really a big news day here I must say, on Obama.