opinion
The Yomiuri Shimbun December 2, 2012 1:00 am
The DPJ has finally come up with the new manifesto for next month's House of Representatives election.The campaign platform unveiled by the DPJ lists five areas as policy priorities: social security, economy, energy, diplomacy and national security, and political reform.
Reflecting on the failure of the previous manifesto, which was filled with unrealistic campaign pledges, including somehow squeezing out ?16.8 trillion (US$204.50 billion) in fiscal resources, the party kept mentions of numerical targets and deadlines to a minimum. This is natural. But the new manifesto still contains many policy goals with slim chances of being achieved.
On social security, the new manifesto, like the previous one, calls for establishing a minimum pension payment system and abolishing the special medical insurance system for people aged 75 or older. Concerning the minimum pension idea, the DPJ stopped short of mentioning a "monthly payment of ?70,000." But the party estimates that an additional consumption tax increase of up to 6.2 percentage points would be required to guarantee this amount of minimum monthly pension payments.
The party says the minimum pension payment will be decided after discussions by a planned national conference on social security system reform. But it is obvious that the policy lacks realism at a time when restraints on welfare benefits are increasingly called for amid the ageing of the population combined with the nation's chronically low birth-rate.
Regarding energy policy, it is irresponsible for the party to adhere to a policy of ending reliance on nuclear power generation in the 2030s, which has been put forth by the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
The manifesto lists various measures to achieve the zero nuclear option, including a review of the nuclear fuel cycle, maintenance of human resources and technology, international cooperation and the dramatic spread of renewable energy. But the manifesto stops short of presenting concrete measures and road maps to realise these policy targets.
Such a manifesto is tantamount to a campaign pledge backed by no fiscal resources. As such, it lacks power to win over the voters.
On the issue of Japan's participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations, the DPJ avoided presenting a clear stance.
Its campaign pledge only mentions that the government will judge whether to join the TPP talks after promoting discussions on the issue together with a tripartite free trade agreement with China and South Korea and a regional comprehensive economic partnership for East Asia.
In doing so, the manifesto stresses that the government has yet to decide on the matter out of consideration to DPJ peers who are wary of or opposed to TPP entry. This represents a retreat from Noda's policy speech to the Diet in October in which he clearly mentioned a push for entry into the TPP talks.
It is also problematic that the manifesto was decided in line with the intentions of a small number of party leaders, something it has in common with the previous campaign platform, the compilation of which was led by former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa. But the party?s failure to present a TPP policy along the lines desired by Noda even after extensive intra-party discussions on the matter inevitably makes us feel uneasy about the DPJ as a ruling party.
On diplomacy and security issues, the DPJ's manifesto consists of abstract arguments from beginning to end, including rhetoric about "deepening the Japan-US alliance."
If the manifesto is left as it is without mentioning concrete visions such as enabling Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defence - as mentioned in the Liberal Democratic Party's campaign platform - and revision of Japan-US defence cooperation guidelines, it is nothing but pie in the sky.
Latest stories in this category
Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/DPJ-manifesto-lacks-realistic-vision-policies-30195407.html
2011 nfl playoff schedule cowboys vs giants ndaa timberwolves weight watchers rawhide bigfoot
Learning to cook is hard enough without spills, smells, smoke, and bugs getting in your way. Here are our 10 biggest kitchen annoyances, and the clever methods you can use to solve them. 
We're all a little groggy in the morning, and if you tend to have trouble pouring your morning orange juice?especially when that jug is particularly full?you can make it easier on yourself by putting a chopstick (or other stick-like object) across the mouth. The water will stick to the rod and flow into your glass rather than dribbling all down the jug and making a mess. Check out the video to the left to see Mr. Bill Nye himself show it in action. And, if your spills are more likely to happen in the fridge with plastic packets, you can use magnets to keep those at bay, too.
Got a little insect infestation? Fruit flies are something we all have to deal with once in our lives, and they can be difficult to get rid of once they've settled in. Luckily, you can make an effective trap using just a bit of apple cider vinegar. Pour some in a glass, add a drop or two of dish soap to break the surface tension, and watch the little buggers start sinking to the bottom when they come over for their afternoon snack.
Some nights you just don't want to cook, and like any red-blooded American, those nights become pizza delivery nights. Eating the pizza is often easier said than done, though, particularly when the toppings fall right off. This is usually because the pizza was cut right after it was cooked, before anything has had a chance to set and cool. To avoid this problem in the future, order your pizza uncut and cut it yourself. You'll be a lot happier with the results. Photo by Robert Duncan.
Ever cook with hot peppers, then rub your eye only to spend the rest of the night in agony? It's a pretty awful feeling, but you can soothe that burn the same way you'd soothe it after eating those peppers: with a little milk. Flush out your eyes with some milk and you should find relief pretty quickly. If you don't have milk nearby, sugar can help, too. To avoid the problem in the future, rub some olive oil on your hands after working with the peppers to get the oils off your hands?sometimes regular water doesn't do the trick. Photo by Marlon Bunday.
Some of us can be a little overzealous when pouring a cold glass of Coke, and it fizzes up so much that it overflows. The problem is particularly bad if you have ice in your glass, because that ice has lots of nucleation points on it for bubbles to form. The solution? Get your ice wet before you put it in the glass. It'll keep the soda from fizzing so much, and stop you from making a mess. If you've accidentally shaken up your soda can, you can fix that by tapping on the can or just waiting a minute before you crack it open.
Getting a new stick of butter out of the fridge is the worst. You end up with a rock hard stick that you can't spread on your toast, and microwaving it makes a mess all over your plate. Here's a clever fix: use a cheese grater or cutter to "grate" the butter onto your toast, which will melt faster and spread like a dream.
No matter how careful you are, microwaves get dirty over time, and you're going to have to get in there and clean it. But instead of rubbing off all that dry, caked-in food, make your microwave scrub-ready with a little water. By placing a bowl of water in the microwave and running it, you'll loosen up all that gunk and make it much easier to wipe away. You can also add some lemon or vinegar to the water if you like, or even microwave a wet sponge?not only will you disinfect the sponge, but you're ready to wipe down the inside right then and there!
If cutting an onion brings on the waterworks like you're watching Old Yeller, you can try a few things to hold those tears back. Try putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathing through your mouth, or cut the cone out of the onion first, since that's the source of eye irritants. You can also soak them in water, but this will give your onions a milder flavor, so only use if you want to bring down the taste, too. Photo by Jennifer Dickert.
The smell of sizzling fish is wonderful when you're cooking, the smell of raw meat isn't always the most pleasant. If you want to kill the odor of that fishy filet, try soaking your smellier foods in milk before you cook them, or adding some peanut butter to the pan. While you're killing smells, too, you might want to check out this video on de-stinking your garlicy hands with a metal spoon.
Smoke alarms are an important tool in any household, but sometimes they're just plain annoying. If your smoke alarm has a tendency to go off when you cook, you can use a shower cap or plastic bag to temporarily "disable" it. Some alarms even have a built-in function that disables it for 15 minutes. Check out our crowdhacker guide to avoiding smoke alarm misfires for more ideas, but above all?be sure to replace those batteries when you're done cooking! Photo by Michael Hicks.
