Comments on: A Giant Passes

By: Aceface

Aceface — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:58:28 +0000

Kurt 9:
You aren’t talking about “american workers work ethic”thing,Are you?
Because I remember that AP had reported the news by editing the soundbite to look Miyazawa’s comment inflammatory than it really was.
He was saying something like”It is said among the skeptics that the American power is declining,as seen in american work ethics are lower than the average of our country’s,but America is the country of many potential and we shouldn’t be rush to make such aregument”
This is not the exact of what he said but pretty much close to what he actually had said.

By: Kurt9

Kurt9 — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:33:37 +0000

I mean “fatalism”, not “futilism”.

By: Kurt9

Kurt9 — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:32:34 +0000

I was living in Japan when Bush I barfed on Miyazawa in 1992. I thought it hillarious. I also thought that Dan Quale might end up as president, which would not have been so hillarious.

I remember how Miyazawa talked “tough” when he became PM in 1991 and, later, in 1992. This was when the Japanese were still barmy as the bubble was still going on. Japan’s economy settled into the long recession in 1993 with the barminess being slowly replaced by a Brit-like “what can be done” futilism.

By: alec

alec — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:39:52 +0000

In the US, he is probably best known for getting barfed on by President Bush I.

Perfect.

By: Kinney

Kinney — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:17:56 +0000

I am amazed by how young Clinton looks in that picture.

By: Younghusband

Younghusband — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:17:38 +0000

Furthermore, we have Miyazawa to thank for his PKO bill which passed despite an “ox walk” in 1992, leading to Japan’s participation in peacekeeping and a steady maturation of its foreign policy. (Can you guess what I have been reading about this past week?)

By: Curzon

Curzon — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:00:23 +0000

Aceface, I haven’t seen you since MF went on hiatus for 20 days. Thanks for stopping by.

I heard a clip of Miyazawa speaking at the National Press Club in DC in the early 1990s, and his English was amazing for a Japanese guy of his age, and certainly better than the vast majority of Japanese people I’ve met, with certain notable exceptions such as present company.

By: Aceface

Aceface — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:28:48 +0000

Kiichi Miyazawa is not just a political big shot but also a gentleman.
I heard him talking to students in English at U.S-Japan student conference at Iwojima(now put back to the original name Iwo-to)in ‘95.
His English wasn’t bad for his generation.I think his daughter is married to someone from the state department and was working at the embassy in Tokyo.