Our prime minister

The new prime minister was selected. His name is Yasuo Fukuda, a son of a former prime minister. It seems to have been a turmoil in politics for a year since Mr. Koizumi completed his term and Mr. Abe took over the position. I think Mr. Fukuda is the best choice for now.

Mr. Koizumi had been a uuique prime minister. When I was a graduate student, a relative of my major professor said, "Koizumi is quite different from any other former Japanese prime ministers." I asked her how different he was, but she didn't give me the idea. Actually, he was quite different.

In Japanese political world, things are always determined by old-boys' total agreement. I mean, there are a lot of private political groups in the major political party. Stronger groups gather more people, and those groups can make their voice heard.

Koizumi-san did not follow this conventional way. He organized his own small group of people, placed them abound him, just like the president of the US has such people around him. Koizumi-san yielded a stronger leadership than any former leaders. In that way and other, he has been a unique prime minister. In his final days, because of his accomplishment, he won a graduation excursion to the Graceland :)

Mr. Abe took over his position. But the job was too heavy for Mr. Abe. So, now, enter Mr.Fukuda, an old-fashioned but stable, conventional politician.

Hillary Pushes Back

From Time May 7, 2007


Hillary Clinton's presidential campain was designed and built to a dreadnought, an all-big-gun battleship that would rule the waves without being dented, slowed or thrown off course. But it has been caught off guard by a submarine named Barack Obama, running silent, running deep - until he surfaced with a spactacular showing in the first round of fund-raising numbers.

What startled Clinton's team most were Obama's totals, his success at drummin up contributions over the internet, and how much he has collected from the big donors who have fueled Clinton enterprises for the past decade and a half.

Clinton's campaign still professes publicly to be unperturbed, maintaining that it never believed the ace would be a cakewalk. But Clinton's advisers privately acknowledge that she is retooling her strategy on four fronts: intensifying her fund raising, emphasizing her experience and policy depth, pondering when and how to go on the offensive against Obama and dusting off the two for the price of on theme of her husband's 1992 campaign.

The fund raising comes first. Obama works the phones like a dog. He probably did three to four times the number of events she did in the first quarter. So Clinton is stepping up the pace of her cash raising. Instead of big galas, she will be doing more fund raisers in smaller settings that offer extra attention from the candidate - especially for those contributors who can pony up the maximum $4,600 total allowed by law for the primary and general elections.

Whereas her forces once warned donors that it would be seen as an act of disloyalty to contribute to anyone but Clinton, they are now inviting Obama's fund raisers to consider hedgin their bets by helping her too. And they are reassuring a new and younger generation of fund raisers that despite the size of her operation, there will be plenty of room at the table for them and their ideas.

Rookies in Baseball

So, this is my blog, a new place that I can express my thought and mind! It looks this blog is easy to use and a great appearance.

I have my own website in Japanese. I've been writing things in that page for years. Now I want to write in English too.

Last night, I saw a big hype about a major league new pitcher on many website. His name is Daisuke Matsuzaka. Yes, he is a Japanese pitcher. Usually, a Japanese major league player does not make a big news in the U.S. But he is a special one. It looks people here wants to see some miracle... lol. No, he is not a miracle boy. He sure is a great pitcher and has been called "the Monster" in Japan. But, no, he is a human being. Apparently he was distracted with flashbulbs and the matchup with Ichiro, his senior player in the major. Now, Dice-K may be feeling at ease after his first defeat.

Honestly, I was more excited about another pitcher story in Japan, in Japanese Professional BaseBall League. He is a rookie, 18 years old, a former Koshien star like Dice-K. I am hoping him to be the next superstar.