Proper Process Archives - understand-culture

A Point Taken Back

In kendo, a valid strike must be made with full spirit and correct posture, with the striking part of the bamboo sword, and with zanshin, continued alertness after the strike. Article 12 of the rules for kendo matches and refereeing sets this out.

Under Article 27, the referees may consult and cancel a strike already declared valid if the competitor behaves improperly. The detailed rules name two cases. One is showing no readiness toward the opponent after the strike. The other is showing off the strike or its validity more than necessary.

Local Consent

Unit 1 of Kyushu Electric Power’s Sendai nuclear plant restarted on August 11, 2015. Before that, the Satsumasendai city assembly and mayor and the Kagoshima prefectural assembly and governor had agreed to the restart. In November 2014, Governor Itō Yūichirō named the safety review by the Nuclear Regulation Authority as his reason.

In practice, a utility needs this jimoto dōi, local consent, before a restart. As an editorial in the Ryūkyū Shimpō noted, no law defines the scope of local consent.

A New Emblem for Tokyo 2020

On September 1, 2015, the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee settled on a policy of no longer using the emblem it had chosen for the Games. The designer had revised the emblem after it won the competition. A Belgian designer had sued, saying it resembled his logo for a theater in Liège, and claims of copying had spread online.

The new selection was open to the public and drew 14,599 entries. On April 25, 2016, the committee chose Kumi ichimatsu mon, a checkered design by the artist Tokoro Asao.

Public Comment

Article 39 of Japan’s Administrative Procedure Act sets out the iken kōbo tetsuzuki, the procedure for inviting public comment. It was added when the act was amended in June 2005.

Before a government body adopts an order or a similar rule, it must publish the draft and invite comments. The period for comments must be at least 30 days from the day the draft is published.

Choosing Reiwa

On the morning of April 1, 2019, the government met with a panel of public figures and experts, the Gengō ni kansuru kondankai. It showed them several draft names for the new era and heard their views.

It then heard the views of the speakers and vice-speakers of both houses of the Diet. All the cabinet ministers discussed the names, and an extraordinary cabinet meeting made the final decision. A procedure for choosing era names had been reported to the cabinet in 1979.

A State Funeral by Cabinet Decision

The state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō was announced on July 14, 2022 and approved by a cabinet decision on July 22. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said the government had decided to hold it on the basis of the Act for Establishment of the Cabinet Office, which covers state ceremonies, and of the cabinet decision.

Critics objected to the procedure. The opposition member of parliament Yoshikawa Saori said that the decision had not passed through a vote of the Diet, and that failing to hear the Diet’s views had caused division.

The Vocabulary of the Proper Route

Suji o tōsu (筋を通す): to run the line through. To give a matter its correct line, as in hanashi no suji o tōsu, to keep a discussion on its proper line.

Sujichigai (筋違い): off the line. Against reason, or aimed at the wrong place, as in watashi ni kujō o iu no wa sujichigai da, complaining to me is the wrong address.

Atamagoshi (頭越し): over the head. An example from a bilingual dictionary: kare wa kachō no atamagoshi ni chokusetsu shachō ni sono teian o motte itta, he took the proposal straight to the president, over the section chief’s head.

Bowing Seal

The ojigi hanko, the bowing seal, is a personal seal stamped at a slant on a document, so that it leans toward the seal of the superior beside it. A business guide by Money Forward calls it one of the business manners that some companies treat as a rule.

Its origin is uncertain. A writer in the magazine President says that, by one account, a department of a major city bank made it a rule, and the rule spread as a rumor. He adds that even this is not certain.

Five Men at the Akasaka Prince

On April 2, 2000, Prime Minister Obuchi Keizō was taken to the hospital with a stroke. That night, five senior figures of the Liberal Democratic Party met at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo: Aoki Mikio, Nonaka Hiromu, Murakami Masakuni, Kamei Shizuka and Mori Yoshirō. They settled on Mori as Obuchi’s successor. The cabinet resigned on April 4, and the Mori cabinet took office on April 5.

The press called the five the gonin-gumi, the group of five, and their meeting a misshitsu, closed-room, decision. Critics said that the way the successor was chosen left large questions about the government’s legitimacy.

Shin Godzilla

The film Shin Gojira (Shin Godzilla) opened in Japan on July 29, 2016, and earned 8.25 billion yen. It won seven Japan Academy Film Prizes, more than any other film that year.

As the monster comes ashore, the government meets to decide how to respond. The debate over whether the Self-Defense Forces may be sent out, and whether doing so would violate the constitution, goes on and on.