Prime Minister Abe has a way of giving speeches. He stands upright, waves his arms, points his finger upward, gestures to the audience in a fatherly way, emphasizes each word, speaks slowly, and is always smiling. This has become the new key quality of a good Prime Minister, namely, to deliver speeches well. Impression is what matters. The content can be anything.
Outward form is immediate, and it appeals to our sense of beauty. The content of a political speech, on the other hand, must be good and true, but can also be bad and false. However, in order to evaluate the latter, the content of the speech must be mediated or analyzed by means of rational methods. In order to do this, the beauty of the form of the speech must be suspended, bracketed out of consideration temporarily.
Abe announced his good intentions in the Davos speech. His economic policy intends to bring "peace and prosperity" by promoting investments not in military forces but in business. His visit to the Yasukuni Shrine was intended to be a way to pay respects to the victims of the war. His appeal to make military budget as transparent as possible is intended to reduce armed conflict.
These are beautiful intentions. But what about the unintended consequences of these political decisions and appeals?
Now even within his speech, Abe's claims were inconsistent. He stated that Japan must play a leading role in overcoming contemporary international issues. And his proposal for Japan to play this leading role? Economic growth! More consumption, more production, more people -- especially women -- joining the workforce, i.e. longer labour hours per household. Here, I really wonder which international issue is supposed to be solved by this means. If anything, to aim for economic growth only seems to escalate and exaggerate the already devastating effects of these issues. For instance, how do you achieve the fair trade of goods? How about alternative energy policies? Would privatizations of electric companies really bring about the necessary changes?
The substance of Abe's speech, masked by his beautiful appeals to "peace and prosperity," spiced up with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is exactly the opposite of what he intends to say. As far as I can see, all local businesses -- especially individual shops -- are having a hard time adjusting to the new increase in consumer's tax. Families where both parents have to work are having problems raising their children. And it is especially in rich families that education is a heavy issue. Continual development of the urban and suburban landscape is having an increasingly negative impact on the environment, robbing the local people of places to go when they need to relax or when the children want to play outside. In general, what is "profitable" often does harm to physical and spiritual well-being, especially to that of children and adolescents.
Abe also emphasized the importance of securing the free movement of people and goods between states. This at least is something I can feel sympathy with. This freedom is important, because when it were to come to the worst, one could say a regrettable good-bye to one's home country in order to raise one's family in a better environment.
