Is he kidding?
11/30/2007 @ 6:00 am
Ex-comedian and Miyazaki Prefecture governor Hideo Higashikokubaru has declared that he is for instituting a national draft in Japan.
“There should be a conscription system,” Higashikokubaru was quoted as saying in a round-table talk with 12 local construction company owners on Wednesday. “It’s a good idea for young people to be drafted into the SDF for a year or two.”
Following the meeting, the comedian-turned governor admitted that he made the remarks as his personal view. “I believe it’s important to train young people at an institution where discipline is valued. A lack of ethics and morality has led to the loss of discipline.”
There was no work as to whether Higashikokubaru was speaking as governor or as a comedian.
I’ve thought this before, though. I mean, you’ve got so many wandering, lifeless freeters around here that it would do them so good to do at least a year of service, toughening them up, teaching them about the world, maybe doing something like PKO work in countries that could use their help. It’s all a pipe dream anyway, but there are a lot of useless young people doing absolutely nothing with themselves.
November 30th, 2007 at 6:18 pmThose part-time jobs that freeters* work contribute much more to prosperity than being hired thugs for the state.
*Freeter is such a stupid word. Why do Japanese people try to come up with English words that no self-respecting native English speaker would ever use?
December 1st, 2007 at 4:11 pm