asazuke

Hmm, no blog posts for… how long? Anyway, resolving to improve the situation, and eventually catch up on all the pencil-on-paper backed up “farmlog” reports, here’s a note on the way Abe seems to have the whole Japanese establishment under his Reign of Terror.

He hasn’t (yet) tortured or exterminated anyone, although Okinawan protest leader Hiroji Yamashiro was locked up in inhumane conditions for months on trumped-up charges, no, Abe works more subtly than that. Ruling party LDP dietmen owe him their seats and prefer to keep quiet. No faction leaders have spoken up to denounce his more idiotic policy initiatives. The press and media are more interested in company loyalty than doing their job as journalists and the once neutral NHK has become something close to a government mouthpiece (although slightly better since the horrible Momii left as director).

So, here’s a perfect example of why Abe doesn’t need the Kempeitai. In the recent Kake scandal, the government repeatedly claimed that documents suggesting Abe was giving tax money to a friend were “bogus”. After bureaucrats started putting their hands up and saying, yes, they had seen such documents, they were finally forced to admit their existence. So, now the Asahi reports:

Vice education minister Hiroyuki Yoshiie has threatened to take disciplinary action against the whistle-blower who divulged details of a document at the center of a scandal over the planned establishment of a veterinary medicine faculty.

Source: Vice education minister warns whistle-blower may be punished：The Asahi Shimbun

The thing is, they aren’t likely to actually fire the guy. If that happened he might well sue them for wrongful dismissal, and whatever way it went, it would stir up all kinds of unwelcome publicity. Easier, just suggest that he might be in trouble. Now whistle-blowers will think twice. That’s what the Secrets Act was for, and the new Conspiracy Law too. They’ll hardly ever have to use these things, just the fear is enough.