Japan's Newest Nanny State Laws are a Hidden Tax

The Japanese government keeps enacting new laws to "protect the public" but they are actually new taxes to help municipal governments cover their fast growing red-ink. Here is another story about a new law that was just enacted about two months ago..


In yesterday's news report, Japan took a huge jump towards the victor in the title of Nanny State of 2011 by ticketing a cyclist for viewing photos on a cell phone! She wasn't talking on a cell phone, she was viewing photos!!!???... This is really getting ridiculous. But the devil is even worse in the details. Read on!

Japan Today reports

KANAGAWA —

Police have charged a teenager for using a cell phone while cycling, in the first such case of its kind in Japan, Nikkan Gendai reported on Wednesday.

Around 9:30 p.m. last Sunday, a patrolman in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, cited a 15-year-old female high school student for a traffic offense. The girl had been riding her bicycle while viewing images on a cell phone and repeatedly disregarded warnings to desist viewing the phone.

The cop was yelling at this girl to stop looking at her cell phone? Hell yes, she'd ignore the cop. Who wouldn't? I'd think he was nuts.

"Don't look at me! Don't you F*cking look at me!"

The incident marked the first time for Kanagawa police to invoke the revised traffic ordinance, aimed at discouraging so-called “nagara unten” by cyclists who talk on cell phones or listen to music players while in motion. It went into effect on May 1.

“She apparently thought cyclists were not subject to traffic regulations,” the source was quoted as saying, adding that violators may be fined up to 50,000 yen.

Catch that part: "...listen to music players while in motion...." This means drivers of cars, bikes, whatever. Next obvious step is to make it a fine to wear headphones while jogging or walking on crowded public sidewalks. But wait a minute!!! What law did this girl violate? She wasn't listening to music and she wasn't talking on a cell phone. She was allegedly looking at photos!!! 


Any competent lawyer should be able to throw this crap out in a second... But it won't go to that. This girl will pay the fine and the cop will go on his merry way interpreting the law anyway he sees fit. Is this arbitrary or what?


And, get serious, ¥50,000 yen (about $600 USD) for looking at a cellphone or listening to an ipod while driving or riding a bike? Really? This is "protecting the public"? Doubtful. 


This is beginning to sound a lot like the stupid arbitrary laws in the USA. Like the new law that, if enacted, will make it illegal to upload a song to Youtube that has you lip-syncing to a track sung by a famous artist... That would include your eight-year-old girl who does a great Lady Gaga impression too. 

Still, Japan only fines people for dumb laws. The penalty for uploading a lip sync video to Youtube in the USA would be a maximum five years in prison. Japan may be f'ed up with these idiotic laws too, but we're still way behind - and a much freer nation - than the USA is.

But being a freer nation than the USA is not much to brag about these days. This cell phone while cycling law is ridiculous. 

These kinds of stupid laws are supposedly enacted by the government to "protect" the public but they are defacto another tax and a new way for the government to collect monies from us.

It is the same with seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, smoking laws, and a whole litany of other ridiculous laws that the government creates ostensibly to protect us (From who? ourselves, of course).

In the case of seat belt laws or helmet laws, it should be obvious to anyone who is still awake that we don't need these types of laws to "protect us" as there is such a thing as "insurance" in case something happens to us... And if some guy wants to drive his car without a seat belt, is he hurting you or me? Why are we being taxed to stop a guy like that? It's absurd. 

Everyone knows that not waring a seat belt or a helmet might be dangerous. Everyone knows that using a cell phone while riding a bike might be risky, but - with or without these laws - people will still do it. And why not? It is their life. Putting a fine on this girl, for example, certainly will not stop her from riding her bike and using her cellphone, she'll just be more careful to make sure the gestapo doesn't see her doing it next time. 

"Papers please!"

If we really want to prevent accidents, then let's take this type of nanny state mentality to its logical conclusion and outlaw all behavior that is even a tiny bit risky as that way we can alleviate all accidents and abolish accident, car, boat and fire insurance forever.

Of course, that is an impossibility.... But it is an excellent way to raise revenues!

People who do not see the absurdity of these taxes disguised as laws to protect society shouldn't be surprised when the new taxes come in on other ridiculous stuff, like, say, using a headphone or iPod like device in a public place.

Say, great idea! In order to "protect" us the government institutes a new tax on little white earbud headphones and uses the money for research to prevent hearing loss!

Laugh now, if you will, but you "heard" it here first. 

Tax and Spend. Tax and Spend. Tax and Spend. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While driving along the road in front of Waikiki beach, I saw a building that said, "Department of Homeland Security" right next to the harbor. I laughed. Prime location on the beachfront and the federal government has a brand new building for the Department of Homeland Security, in Waikiki no less. Isn't that ironic?

Jack Lord would have been proud.

"Book 'em Dan-o!"

Don't forget that this is the same federal government that was in charge of security when the Twin Towers were attacked on Sept. 11, 2011. Most people who blow their jobs get fired. Not these guys. They get nice offices in Waikiki. 

Funny, you know, if you were the fire chief of some hick town and screwed up  your duties on that day and a bunch of buildings burned down, you'd be fired or would certainly lose your job. Not the government though. They increase our taxes and expand their incompetent services. That's the way the government operates, you know. Their answer to every problem is to tax and expand. 

That's how it works, you see. 

People who have been paying attention will already know that golden rule of politics. And that rule is that no matter what occurs the government response will always be an expansion of that government and that will mean higher taxes for you and me no matter how you slice it.  

So bend over and take it.

On that note, there’s a couple of news stories about Japan that caught my “WTF!?” radar yesterday. I thought I’d write about them today. See if you can catch the irony of the situation.

The clowns in control of the Japanese government claim that they need to increase the current Sales Tax rate of 5% up to 10% in order to cover shortfalls in tax revenues and a burgeoning social insurance liability. They also are using the excuse of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima as a ruse to fool the public that this tax increase is needed and is for the public good.

If it is for the public good, well then, they are not at fault for poor management, you know. Public good and all... But hey, weren't they just claiming that they needed to raise taxes for a different reason before the March 11 earthquake? Why, yes, they were! Then it was out of control spending.

But not now! No! Now is because we are all Japanese people and we must stick together to raise taxes to help the people up north. 

By claiming that monies will be used for reconstruction of the northern Japan region of Tohoku, the government can act like they have no choice but to  increase taxes for the betterment of the public. They’ll claim that they are being “forced” into raising taxes and it can’t be helped due to circumstances outside of their control.

Never mind the fact that Japan’s public debt, by this very same government and preceding administrations pushed the debt to past 200% of GDP long before the March 11 disaster struck. 

Regular readers of this blog will know what I think about this sort of political bandwagon nonsense. 

Here are two articles that I found that I’d like to share with you that shows just what kind of shenanigans go on in the halls of power at Nagatacho.

The first from the Daily Yomiuri newspaper about how the government of Naoto Kan, in spite of being resoundingly defeated in the last election due to an insistence on increasing Sales Tax, is going to push it through no matter what. 

Public opinion and a frail economy be damned. Great timing, eh? No election coming up and all. I wonder what the angle is for the criminals of the LDP? The Daily Yomiuri newspaper:

The government and the Democratic Party of Japan agreed on tax reform plans this week, and plans to submit related bills during the Diet's ordinary session next year. 

Woah! Watch out! "Tax reform" is a code-word for "Tax increase." 

It will need to clearly stipulate in those bills when the consumption tax should be raised and by how much.

Translation: One party agrees to tax hikes and "budget cuts" as long as their pork barrel projects remain intact.

However, there are piles of tasks to be completed before that can happen, such as deciding standards by which to assess the national economy's ability to withstand the tax hike, and determining how tax revenue should be shared between the central and local governments.

Yes. The pirates must always decide how to divvy up the loot.

Thus, the government will have to overcome some high hurdles to realize the agreed plan to raise the consumption tax rate to 10 percent "by the middle of the 2010s."

Hopefully those hurdles will be so high that they kill themslves on the way back down. Faithful readers of this blog might remember my post entitled: Japan's Government Headed for Ouster? Good. The Sooner, the Better. Where I pointed out that the best government that we could possibly hope for is one in constant deadlock because, if they are in deadlock, they can't pass any news taxes. See? I was right. That slimeball Kan snookered his way back into power and now they're talking about raising taxes.

Am I genius or what? No. Not genius. All governments are the same sneaky lowlife. I am merely an astute observer at best.

The bad news continues:

The government's plan is to raise the consumption tax rate in two stages. At first, the rate will likely be bumped to 7 percent or 8 percent in autumn 2013 or later, and then to 10 percent by the end of fiscal 2016.

Great! This means we still have a chance to boot these clowns before they do anymore damage.

It is feared that a single, all-at-once increase to 10 percent might hurt the nation's real economy.

Gee. Do you really think so? It's been proven that an increase in taxes coordinates with a corresponding decrease in tax revenues. Haven't these idiot politicians never heard of the Laffer Curve? No? OK. From Wikipedia:

One potential result of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point will become counterproductive for raising further tax revenue because of diminishing returns. 

Gee wasn't the opposition LDP just claiming that they were against Naoto Kan's plans for reconstruction and didn't they just stand in the last election firmly against any increase in the Sales Tax rate? The Economist reports:

"...opposition parties have threatened to block implementation of the spring budget for the next fiscal year. Without big concessions..."

"Without big concessions!?" Gee, do you think that means that you grease our wheels and we grease yours?... Nah!

You know what is going on here, folks, is that the LDP wonks actually want to increase taxes too but they see a golden opportunity to increase those taxes while at the same time making Naoto Kan and the dimwitted Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) take the blame for it.

See? The LDP gets their cake and eats it too and then win the next election because they can claim that they were against any tax hikes. Those sneaky genius bastards! Gotta hand it to them though… They didn't get to run this country for iffy years by not knowing how to play a very hardball game of poker.

Kan and those clowns are out of their league. The LDP is going to secretly get their tax increase (they were the ones who first put a Sales Tax into place) and they are going to blame the DPJ and return to power.

The next article would be a real head-scratcher except if you remember the golden rule: that no matter what occurs the government response will always be an expansion of that government and that will mean higher taxes no matter how you slice it.

The Japan Times reports that in 2010 Japanese government revenues actually jumped 7.1%!

Tax revenues for fiscal 2010 rose 7.1 percent from the previous year to ¥41.49 trillion, exceeding the earlier forecast of ¥39.64 trillion, thanks to improving corporate earnings, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

Did you do a double-take on that one? I sure did. WTF? The government coiffures  actually increased by more than 7% last year and these clowns still want to raise our taxes?!

Just to prove to you how much of a scam this all is and how completely and totally fiscally irresponsible these people are, here's another article from Feb. 24th, 2011, two weeks before the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, that gives another totally different reason for raising our taxes: Government debt to GDP. From Bloomberg:

Moody's said that it cut its outlook on the credit rating on Japan because of “heightened concern that economic and fiscal policies may not prove strong enough to achieve the government's deficit reduction target”.

Also they said the government's policies would probably not be able to “contain the inexorable rise in debt, which already is well above levels in other advanced economies”.

Analysts said that the move by Moody's was widely expected after S&P's decision to cut its rating. However, they added that while it may have a limited impact on the bond and currency markets, it could have broader political implications.

“Politicians or the finance ministry could use this as a reason to push for fiscal reform, which could include a sales tax hike,” said Satoru Ogasawara, an economist at Credit Suisse. 

Uh oh, there's that "reform" word popping up again.

It looks like these people have their hearts dead-set on raising our taxes one way or another. It would never do to be responsible to do something like, say, cut spending. Oh no! Can't do that.

Twenty years of this sort of out of control spending and tax increases have landed this nation right where it is today: With a faltering economy and massive debt and our credit rating slashed.

At this rate, all we can realistically expect is twenty more years of the same.... That is if we don't go bankrupt before then.

Japanese guys stocking up on cigarettes

As everyone in Japan knows, the price of a pack of cigarettes is about to jump 20% in a few days. That will bring the price of a pack of regular cigarettes to about ¥410 (about $4.80 USD pack). I'm sure glad that I quit smoking a few years ago. 

I smoked from 1998 to May 2009. Yes, I am lame. I didn't smoke at all until I became over 40-years-old. Interestingly enough, I got hooked on cigarettes during a five-week hospital stay in 1998.

How does one get hooked on cigarettes while staying in the hospital? This is Japan, there are still lots of hospitals that have smoking sections inside the hospital. The one where I got hooked on cigarettes had a smoking lounge that seated at least 100 people. While I was staying there, there was not much to do - couldn't really go out (it was winter) so us guys would sit around in the lobby and smoke cigarettes...


That is so Japan...

Back then, a pack of cigarettes cost ¥240 yen (about $2.80). The price of cigarettes has been steadily increasing by about ¥30 a pack every two years or so.

I got fed up with that nonsense and quit when cigarettes hit ¥300 per pack (about $3.60). I wrote about that and how you too can quit easily here.

Now, with the price of cigarettes about to skyrocket, Japanese people are stocking up. I was in my favorite grocery store the other day and over-heard two register clerks saying that they were out of several brands of major cigarettes and that was in the morning just after opening.

Some people are buying hundreds of cartons and storing them like gold. 

Bloomberg reports:

Yusuke Sato says a man walked into his tobacco store in Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo, this month and bought 100 cartons of Mild Seven cigarettes. While they may not be good for his health, he may have saved $1,300.

The man is one of thousands of smokers across Japan stocking up before Oct. 1 to beat a record 40 percent tax increase on tobacco. Their hoarding may add as much as 1.4 percentage points to this quarter’s annualized economic growth rate, according to estimates from the Japan Research Institute.

“We were afraid we would run out of stock,” said Sato, who started taking reservations for cartons last month. “Thirty cartons has been the norm.” Next month, customers would pay 110,000 yen ($1,300) more for the same 20,000-cigarette order after the price of a pack of 20 jumps by a third, he said.  

The headline of the Bloomberg article talks about how the Japanese government is benefitting from this "cigarette rush" due to a jump in tax income from sales.

I'm sure the government needs the money too since the economy is so bad...

But how long will this last?

I asked my best friend, Taro Furukawa, about it. Taro is 38-years-old and has been smoking since he was 14. In the last few years, he's been conserving cigarettes and sometimes smoking the same cigarette twice (he takes a puff then puts it out gently and returns it to the pack to smoke later - they taste rancid that way, but at least you get a nicotine rush, I used to do that too!). Taro is a hard core smoker - like many Japanese his age. Taro says he will not quit smoking even if cigarettes hit ¥1,000 (about $11) per pack!

Taro Furukawa

Taro went to the store and bought several hundred dollars of cigarettes at once... The amazing part is that everywhere in Japan is sold out of cigarettes. Taro had to place an order and wait one week. He will get his cigarettes tomorrow he said.

Taro says he will never quit smoking no matter what the price of cigarettes. Why? Because he likes to smoke.

I quit smoking almost 2 years ago and do not want a cigarette anymore... But I can understand why a guy likes to smoke.

If it helps him to relax and enjoy himself, then why not let him do it?

Life can be difficult enough as it is, full of stress, without having a one minute simple pleasure taken away.

But, after some more prodding, Taro admitted that his wife was not happy at all that his weekly cigarette allowance went from $21 to over $600 in one shot.


Taro said, "I might have to quit smoking at this rate..." If Taro thinks this, then there must be millions of other Japanese guys who think the same thing. Maybe this one time burst of spending helps Japan's GDP but it's going to end and, besides a huge decrease in cigarette taxes, we might see a huge increase in irritated Japanese men.


I hope not.