VINDICA

Story1 On the latest flight out of SFO, the airline actually had an English language newspaper for a change, and I got to read a delightful story about Japanese politics. For those who don't have the time to read the full story (I absolutely recommend it), here is the summary: * The Japanese media does not print any big news story until the ruling party indicates the direction that it wants the story to take. * This is why the story about the drunk Finance Minister at the Davo conference initially called it the result of fatigue. Later when party boss Mori indicated that Nakagawa (the Finance Minister) had been drunk, all hell broke loose and the newspapers were full of it, leading to his eventual resignation. * Current Prime Minister Taro Aso's approval rating is single digit and the ruling party is worried they are going to lose. * One strategy that the ruling party has used in the past has been to fill newspapers will manufactured controversies so as to prevent any meaning