What is one aspect of your country that you would like the government to improve or change?
☆Let’s Think
1.
What is the problem or what is
your concern about your country?
2.
What needs to be done to deal
with the issue?
3.
What are the expected drawbacks,
if any? Are there any countermeasures?
☆Hints for Points
1.
Low birth rates are shrinking
the population because young people are not earning enough to get married and
have children. → Undo the deregulation of the labor law prohibiting irregular
employment of unskilled workers. Raise the minimum wage to keep up with the
inflation. Japan is the only developed country whose minimum wage has not
increased for 3 decades.
2.
Japan has gotten poorer. → Government-led investment in innovation
would be necessary. Increase the budget for education. Facilities are getting
outdated and the quality and quantity of school lunches are going down. Raise
the payment and improve the working conditions of teachers. Schools and
nurseries are losing teachers because of the demanding working conditions and
the low pay.
3.
The wealth gap has been
widening over the last 15 years. → Redistribute by increasing welfare. Cancel the consumption tax,
which is siphoning money from the majority to the privileged. It was supposed
to be used for pension but actually has been used to make up for the tax cut
for the savings of huge corporations and the wealthy, even though they have
been making profits. Also, stop the invoice system to protect solo proprietors
and small companies. Stop disimproving education and attacking teachers. The
government occupied by the superrich wants the public to be ignorant. Ministry
of Finance controls the government for their golden parachute. Establishing the
government pension system will make government bureaucrats cooperative to
reforms of the government by the cabinet.
4.
Public services are deteriorating.
→ Deprivatize public services such as Japan Railways, Japan Post, and water
of some prefectures for the public good.
5.
Self-sufficiency is very low
(10-40%). → Protect farmers from low-priced imports. Be nice to China, to which
we depend on for foods and fertilizer. Improve technology related to agriculture.
6.
The healthcare is at stake. The
death rate has been rising especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinics are
closing. Long covid, COVID-19’s after-effect, is increasingly affecting people
including the young. → Promote ventilation, face-masks, and early treatment by putting
COVID-19 back to the 2nd grade and make PCR testing free. Take
measures to lower the high cancer rate by tightening regulations on food-safety
and air and water quality. Redo the worsening of the universal healthcare
coverage. Stop linking it to the MyNumber card not to let American insurance
companies intervene.
7.
Immigrants are having a hard
time. → Accept before assessment. Soften immigration laws. Improve conditions
of migrant workers. Prevent discrimination by making laws like anti-hate speech
ordinance.
8.
Threat of radiation is
increasing. TEPCO is not only reactivating nuclear power plants but also
building new ones even though megaquakes are increasing. The Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plants are releasing stored contaminated water which contains not
only tritium but also other radioactive nuclides into the ocean. Tritium itself
is reported to cause cancer and influence heredity. Decontaminated soil from
Fukushima is to be used as materials throughout Japan. Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant
sits on a fault at the tip of a thin peninsula. Its collapse can contaminate
the whole northern hemisphere. →
Phase out nuclear power following the examples of Taiwan and
Germany. Cover the crippled power plants with concrete. Stop the radioactive
water release and solidify the water with concrete.
9.
Japan can go to war again. Ultra-rights
are up to change the pacifist Constitution into the same one that Imperial
Japan had. Defense budget has been increasing. The money will go to the US
military industrial complex and the related politicians. → Seak diplomacy through economic ties with
other Asian countries and the countries of the global south. Make the core
articles of the Constitution unchangeable.
10.
The Liberal Democratic Party
has ruled Japan since the end of WWII except for a couple of years, corrupted
the whole society as well as the politics. → Coalition of the opponents is a must. Abolish
the single-constituency system for politicians from other parties to be
elected. Abolish the high deposit for candidacy and tax the inherited political
fund to vote out corrupt politicians who never work for people.
☆Response for Ideas
and Expression
【Thesis】I would like the government of Japan, where I
live, to stop controlling the media.
【Supporting Details】The freedom of the press was lost under the
late former prime minister Abe. He had Sanae Takaichi, then the Minister of
General Affairs and Communications, change the interpretation of the Broadcast
Act to control television stations and make them refrain from broadcasting any
dissenting opinions or inconvenient information that disagrees with the
government propaganda. Magazines and newspapers have also been compromised by
the appointment of Abe’s cronies to their CEOs. This has prevented people from
learning the truth and made them ignorant, garbling the disinformation of the
state affairs and revisionism of the Japanese war crimes. Now, access to correct
information is available only through some independent media and social media.
This situation is deteriorating our democracy and allowing fascism.
【Follow-up and Conclusion】Even though the Japanese affinity with totalitarianism
is also the cause of this situation, the plummeting ranking of our press freedom
corresponds with our political decline, so rejuvenating the media is the
priority in the government. (175 words)
