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How to punish criminals

The pros and cons of the death penalty are controversial because both opinions seem

convincing. You can see the situation in any debate about the punishment; for example to be

tough to criminals especially cruel crimes like the serial killer or to be lenient to the

younger because they are rehabilitable. I think these debates are useful, however they can¡Çt

be used to reach any conclusion because their reasoning is based on the classical framework.

I¡Çd like to start with the history of punishment and see other side of it.

The classical idea of Jail system

It is usual that most criminals are sent to the jail after they are sentenced. This idea

came from Bentham¡Çs Panopticon. Panopticon is a type of jail which has features as the

following:

1 This is designed to allow the observer to observe all prisoners.
2 Prisoners can¡Çt know they are observed or not by the observer.
3 Each criminals is confined in the small room called Cell and separated from

other criminals.

4 All criminals have freedom to choose their jobs and their minimum welfare is

guaranteed.

These ideas show his Utilitarianism and kindness. He thought that it was important not only

to raise the basic life situations in England to the greatest happiness but also to enlighten

criminals not to commit crimes again. He tried to realize social welfare for criminals and

rehabilitation at the same time, however his idea didn¡Çt come true in his time.

It is said that his idea was too conceptual based on the situation in 19th century or too

radical to admit the freedom or social welfare for criminals. Despite the unpopularity

in England, some country like France or Japan adopted this idea partially. It was not until

early 20th century that his opinion was appreciated. Most of the current jail system is based

on his concepts of making the rehabilitation for criminals compatible with their separation

from society, though the designs aren¡Çt same as his panopticon¡Çs.

The flaws of the current jail system

In spite of Bentham¡Çs hope, the current jail system fails to realize his goals. For example,

the frequency and cruelty of crimes by the habitual criminal are becoming worse year and

year. This shows that the system can¡Çt rehabilitate criminals well and instead reinforces

their criminality.

I think this system is wrong in two points. First, it is harmful to gather criminal in one

place to educate them because they cannot avoid to forming relationships with other

criminals. Once my friend told me that they had enjoyed boasting about their crimes in

break time or exchanging information how to escape. Though they had a series of lectures

about ethics, they forget the lesson easily and returned to the unethical ways under the

influence by other criminals. I think the feeling that there are more dangerous criminals

than themselves or the are better than others weakens their regrets, in addition to that,

they can¡Çt improve their people skills because of this special environment. In my opinion,

if they were isolated from one another by some effective way, the wouldn¡Çt be influenced by

other criminals. It is desirable for them to live in some kind of terms of enlightening them.

Second, I think that the assumption that it is effective to separate criminals from our

society by confining them in jails is wrong, because there are other options apart from jails

to keep them from committing crimes.

There is one good example in Chinese fairy tale Journey to the West. Sun Wukong, one of

the characters, was a delinquent monkey. He behaved so baldy that he was punished by

Budda and confined to the mountain. After 500 years, a monk Xuan zang, one of the

characters, released him for his journey to India. Instead he thanked to him, he tried to

escape from Xuan, so he was forced to wear a crown by him. When he tried to do

something bad, this crown shrunk by Xuan¡Çs supernatural power. Wukong is depicted like a

delinquent boy who is punished by his father. When I heard the story, I said ¡ÈEureka.¡É

I am afraid to say that Budda failed to rehabilitate Wukong by detention, though Xuan

succeeded in subordinating him with the tiny crown, but this is the fact in the story. Now

that we have many useful devices which can be used as the Wukong¡Çs crown to regulate

criminals. GPS chip is the most specific example. If GPS chips were implanted in

criminals¡Ç bodies they would be tracked easily by the observers wherever the went.

Furhtermore if the GPS chips could eavesdrop, the observer would be able to monitor their

lives. The criminal would not be allowed to remove the chip until they had finished the

terms of their sentence. I think they would be more motivated to rehabilitate themselves,

because I as

Special Post Office

The Slogan ¡ÉPrivatization of Japan public post office¡É led Liberal Democratic Party to

achieved an unprecedented triumph in 44th general election of house of representatives.

Privatization has been the most important policy for Prime Minister Koizumi since he became

a politician.

Because it had been a sanctuary for almost 40 years and the strongest profit group for

pork-barrel politicians like late Prime Minister Tanaka. Why was post office so powerful that

any politician hadn¡Çt been able to reform? The answer is ¡ÈSpecial post office¡É.

What is ¡ÈSpecial post office¡É

¡¦Special post office is a type of branches of Japan public post office which was created

in 1871 as universal service especially for country areas. There are three types of

offices : general, small and special. (It consists of 75% of all.) There isn¡Çt clear

definition of it, but it is advantaged in three points.

First is employment system. Any people who are above 25 years old can apply for chief of

special post office. Of course, their status is special public servant. Though entrance

exam is opened as principle, it rarely has been done except for relatives of incumbent chief.

Exam procedure is opaque, so it is often criticized as ¡Èsuccess system.¡É ( In fact

¡ÈUnion of special post office chief¡É says incumbents should find their successor by

themselves. It has never mentioned ¡Èfair exam.¡É) Furthermore chiefs can decide when they

retire. Very few, if any, chiefs retire in 60 years old, so their accumulated retirement

pension is by far higher than general public servants¡Ç ones.

Second is office. There are two types of offices. One is national office which is

constructed or repaired by national money. The other is private office. Chiefs of special

post office who own their real estates lend them to Japan public post office.

Generally speaking, the latter is ¡Èsuccess office.¡É

Most of chiefs borrow money from union to construct their own offices. Main revenue of

union is payment of special post office. They don¡Çt have to pay real estates tax, so their

business environment is advantaged.

¡¦ Third is environment of workers. Even though they don¡Çt need many workers, they can

decide how many people to hire. ( Limitation is usually six. There are 270,000 workers in

post office. More than half are special post officers. ) Chiefs can make labour rules or

works to some extent at their will. Most workers are required to enter union, and their works

contain something unrelated to their usual ones. Some officers are ordered to gather

information about their districts and give their information to union. As a result, unions

become ¡Èmachine of ballots¡É by using their information.

Privatization of post office

¡¦The reasons that Prime Minister Koizumi is motivated to privatize post office are two.

First is strong union of post officers. LDP ¡¡eval¡¡uated their information, so they have been

favorable to post offices. It is said that their ballots are more than 1million in Japan.

Pro post office politicians who most belonged to former Hashimoto faction disturbed many

attempt to streamline them. Koizumi was a victim of Hashimoto faction, so he hated post

office.

Second is deposit and insurance of post office. Their sums are 350trillion yen, and its

money has sustained corruption. Semi-governmental companies like Japan highway company which

are main money resource to LDP borrows money from post office with low interest and long due

date, so their payback are slower, lower compared to private sectors standard. Therefore,

such companies don¡Çt pursue profit, suffer from accumulated debt they can¡Çt pay back

forever.

I would like to appreciate Koizumi¡Çs attempt, because this problem has been sanctuary to

politicians for 100 years. I hope his plan success without any hitch.

Yasukuni issue 2

= ­¥ The future for China and Japan =
China¡Çs anti Japan campaign has been effective to some extent, but it often backfires

these days. For example, protestants against Beijin pretend to be anti Japan activists,

so Beijin can¡Çt arrest them easily. Furthermore criticism inspires Japanese

nationalism which they most fear. Hawkish politicians are more acceptable and sense

of unity is growing than 20 years ago.

Unfortunately, side effect of the anti-Japanese policy has a bad influence to Japanese.

The young appreciate Hawkish politicians so much that it is difficult for those who are

sympathetic to China can¡Çt express their thought publicly. Japanese economy has

been relining on China for ten years so deeply that we can¡Çt achieve economic growth

enough to sustain Japan. However, hostile mind set would lead our good relationship

in economy to the vicious circle of revenging.

What we need to do is to avoid diplomatic trouble over the domestic problems like

historical issues and keep good Status quo of economy. After we overcome the birth

pain, the time will come when we forget historical problem.


¢¨1 Article 20 of Japanese Constitution rules the isolation of religion from politics.

Some assert that it is unconstitutional in terms of article 20, others think visit as

a private person is acceptable. However, judge are divided into two stances.

Osaka high court sentenced it unconstitutional, but Tokyo district court

supported prime minister Koizumi.

¢¨2¡¡Their statement that they opposed prime ministers vitsits to Yasukuni is a lie.

They had never protested even after Class A war criminals were enshrined.

However, there was a secret promise that prime minister, cabinet secretary and

foreign minister don¡Çt visit Yasukuni. It is inconsistent that one of spokes

persons in China criticized lawmakers visit.

Yasukuni issue

­¡ The birth of Yasukuni shrine

¡¦Yasukuni shrine was built in1869, at Meiji era. It was a memorial

service shrine for war victims of Boshin war which was the longest and hardest civil

war with Tokugawa shogunate groups at that time. Protagonist of it was Masujiro

Ohmura who was a general of Meiji troop and famous for his smartness. He tried to

motivate soldiers to devout themselves to the war by showing that Meiji government

would appreciate their bravery through enshrining war victims. It was administrated

by Grand and Maritime defense departments and these decided whom they should

enshrine. After their decision was approved by Meiji emperor, victims were enshrined.

However, it was famous for as an amusement place not as a shrine during peaceful

time. Not only memorial rituals but also magic show (even professional wrestling!!)

took place at its lot. You can find an introduction of Yasukuni shrine in a travel map at

that time. If you promised to meet at Yasukuni shrine with friends, it meant to hang

out with them.

In 1927 , first national foundation festival took place at Yasukuni shrine . Yasukuni

was gradually recognized as a national shrine from this year . Governmental

campaign to nationalize Yasukuni shrine was reinforced more and more after 1927, it

became finally a part of politics.¡¡Military personnel¡¡were told they could be Gods, if

they had been dead in war.Generals agitated young militants to die in war. Many personnel

exchanged last words before they went to front line ¡ÈSee you again in Yasukuni¡É.

When families knew their children¡Çs death, they said their children had become Gods.

­¢ What caused Yasukuni issue in Japan?

¡¦All prime ministers attended to worship to Yasukuni for more than 20 years without

criticism from Asian countries. This problem had started to arise when prime minister

Miki declared he would visit Yasukuni as a private person.¢¨1 I don¡Çt know why he

said it, but it resulted in giving a reason Asian countries to criticize Japan. To matters

worse, Class A war criminals were enshrined in 1978 during Fukuda administration

who was known as a hawkish politician. This problem became multiply dimensional:

Is it a matter of whether a private or public person? If there were not Class A war

criminals, is it justified to visit without minding whether public person or not? It

seemed that this was an internal problem at first, however Japanese politicians didn¡Çt

know that China was going to exploit this issue as a diplomatic policy.

­£ China¡Çs hostile policy to Japan

¡¦China desperately tried to find a scapegoat, because it suffered from internal

problems like Wigle autonomy riot or the democracy movement in1970¡Çs. Therefore,

Japanese sympathetic attitude to China was the most suitable scapegoat. Beijin

started the anti Japan campaign to direct people¡Çs anger to the external nation.

It protested Nakasone¡Çs visit officially first in 1985.¢¨2 His excuse that the visit was as

a private person had no effect to cease this problem. They protested against the visit to

Yasukuni so hard that most of prime ministers after Nakasone were forced to stop

visiting or soften their views to World War 2. In addition to that, President

Jian zo Min promoted hostile education policy to Japan. He ordered to make a

teacher¡Çs manual which advises them to hate Japan or construct a history museum of

massacre in Nanjing. The reason why many younger demonstrated is that they were

educated under the biased education by the government.

­¤ China¡Çs thought at heart and Japanese situation

¡¦Wang yi, Chinese envoy to Japan, made a speech in the headquarter of LDP office. He

revealed why China criticized Japanese so hard; ¡ÉChina found it effective that it

exploits a history problem in order to advantage ourselves in Asia, because Japanese

are sensitive to it¡É. After all they think Japan is easy to treat. It is true that we have

reacted to it emotionally and repeated to show them apology. To my surprise, most

Japanese politicians seldom criticize China¡Çs hostile policy and rather tried to

apologize to them. This topic had been the least popular in broadcast, because

Japanese didn¡Çt want to remember their miserable time, so politicians didn¡Çt dare to

debate it so publicly.

I think Japanese largely have been ignorant to this issue for ages. Even though this

issue becomes one of the most popular issues these days and we can see hard debates

about it, Japanese swung from passively to aggressively so much that they just

provoked Chinese and failed to think it calmly. Some politicians are motivated to earn

fame by being tough to China. However their statement tend to descendent to the

level of simple backbiting.

BSE problem

¡¦It is often said that the import ban on beef from United States will be lifted soon. The

stock price of Yoshinoya or other fast food companies is highly ¡¡eval¡¡uated recently, thought

there are big differences between Japanese standards and U.S. meat standards. Why did

the Japanese government relax its tough policy?

= Statistics explanation =
¡¦Some U.S. politician said ¡ÈIt is wasteful to inspect all cattle. Statistically speaking,

only one percent will do¡É. It seems plausible, but this statement is more difficult than you

think, so it is necessary to explain it in detail.

I¡Çd like you to think about the case of the salt water: 90g water and 10g salt. If the

salt dissolves in the water completely, its density is 10%. If you took 10g of the water,

it must contain 1g salt as a result, so the density is same. This theory is applied to public

opinion poll. Mass media assume that as people are distributed almost equally around Japan,

only 2,000 samples(0.002%) will represent all Japanese opinion like the salt water. If

infected animals were distributed equally, its percentage is only 0.1%, only 20 cows would

represent the percentage of total infection.

= Comprehensive or selective? =
¡¦I don¡Çt think it is a matter of a comprehensive inspection or a selective inspection.

According to statistics, if there were no BSE cow in the sample, it would show that there

was no BSE cow in total.

However, a negative result of the sample doesn¡Çt mean that there is no BSE cow. You

wouldn¡Çt care whether the public opinion is correct or not, but if there were only one BSE

cow, it is fatal. Americans don¡Çt seem to care about the safety of foods, because they are

not interested in it, but unaware of statistical information. The attitude of U.S.

politicians shows that they don¡Çt care about the health of people, so they can justify

their actions by such ridiculous logic.

= The Cozy relationship =
¡¦It seems remarkable that Tokyo adopted a strict standard and refused to import U.S. beef.

However, Japanese politicians too didn¡Çt care about public opinion, but were just

politically motivated. Pork-barrel politicians who rely on agricultural unions strongly

exploited this opportunity to increase profit to farmers who were suffering because of

pressure from cheap imported beef. It is unfair for the U.S. to criticize the Japanese

stance, but equally Japan can¡Çt justify itself with the far-fetched reason that the U.S.

doesn¡Çt try to meet its standards which are exceedingly strict compared to other nations.

What is worst is the fact that farmers don¡Çt try hard to meet the strict standard in both

countries. Each country needs to persuade its farmers to accept them first.

= The malady of capitalism =
Generally speaking, sub-standard products can¡Çt be sold in the capitalist world, so some

would be motivated to hide bad information from customers. It is said that Japanese beef is

safe after policies to counter BSE were made, but many specialists warned that there could

be a lot of secret BSE cows. The stricter customers are to products, the more severe it is to

producers. Farmers who can¡Çt meet customers¡Ç demands should withdraw from the market.