Word: kabuki
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...attention now. This may be a little hard to follow. It might even sound like one of those confusing Kabuki plays?full of riddles, contradictions and vainglorious people doing despicable things behind decorative screens. But it's all about Japanese politics, which is arguably more important than Kabuki. Or maybe it's another form of Kabuki, with the actors in expensive Ginza-tailored gray and black suits instead of ornately stitched kimonos. And in lieu of the requisite, delicately painted hand fan, the preferred politico prop would be an envelope stuffed with cash...
...close attention to the chatter in the alleys off Showa road in Ginza, where the pols pay $650 a head for dinner (drinks are extra) at places like Kiccho, Mori's favorite, you'll discover just how much like Kabuki Japanese politics is these days. Word is that no senior LDP leader?not Aoki, not Nonaka, not Koizumi?wants to become Prime Minister just now. Forget about the jostling that appears to be going on. Sure, the party wants Mori out because he is such an embarrassment. But there is an election for the Upper House of the Diet scheduled...
...deposed. And a successor will be selected. But as usual the work will have been done in private, at expensive restaurants?behind those decorative screens. Says Kenji Gato, a senior political reporter in Tokyo: "When the curtain is raised on the LDP meeting, the play ends." That's not Kabuki we're talking about, but Japanese politics...
...appearing on TV talk shows and publishing memoirs, how-to guides and even business books. A high-profile TV movie about a host club aired last month, starring a dream roster of the country's hottest male actors. There are hundreds of such clubs in areas like Tokyo's Kabuki-cho and they vie for business via cell phones and the Internet, which has search sites that rank the city's top hosts by looks and charm quotient. For the customers, Japan's trend-conscious young women, a night at a host bar is part thrill, part danger. The thrill...
...make it a thing of the past. Rival gunmakers railed at their competitor's apostasy, but so did tobacco companies at the start of their capitulation. Under pressure from cities and the Federal Government, manufacturers may have to offer their own safety measures. If that happens, the capital Kabuki rituals will become more irrelevant than ever...