As Tobias Harris from Observing Japan will be in town next month, we have decided to hold a get-together for anyone interested in meeting up with other bloggers here in Tokyo. So, here’s the invitation:

A gathering for bloggers and blog enthusiasts is being planned in Tokyo for the evening of January 17, and we would like to extend the invitation to any and all visitors who may wish to come. Bloggers from Observing Japan, Shisaku, Global Talk 21, Mutant Frog, neojaponisme, Coming Anarchy, Our Man in Abiko, Trans-Pacific Radio and more will be amongst the crowd.

All of us are hoping to meet with other bloggers and readers for an evening of food and drink. If you would like to attend, please send an email to transpacificradio@gmail.com before January 8th. Please let us know how many folks you would like to bring along with you. Although we have a place in mind for the get-together, we will wait to see what the final numbers are like before confirming. We expect that the gathering will be held in either Shibuya or Shinjuku. After we have confirmed the numbers and location, we will send you an email letting you know exactly where and when (probably about 6pm) we will be meeting up on the 17th.

We hope to see you all on the 17th of January!

Everyone knows the story of perhaps the best-known, best-loved Christmas film ever made. What would life have been like in Bedford Falls, New York if George Bailey had never been born.

Will Clarence the Apprentice Angel get his wings for stopping Bailey’s suicide? Will greedy old Mr. Potter get his hands on the Savings & Loan?  After his father’s death, his responsibilities at the S&L, and family life, will George Bailey ever get to see the world?  Will it matter?

You know, but it’s a great show anyway. Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed star in Frank Capra’s classic It’s A Wonderful Life.  We even learn what happens if someone gets the moon.  Enjoy it with our best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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The Night Santa Stole Christmas: Created by a man with a mic, a Mac and a kitchen table. Answering those key questions such as “Who is Santa’s brother?” “How does he decide who’s naughty and nice?” “Does being Santa do his back any good?”

Here we have a story designed to delight, enthrall and give a warm Christmassy feeling. Whilst taking the piss out of everything.

Download it quick before it gets devalued and repossessed!

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 The Night Santa Stole Christmas: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This edition of Seijigiri begins with co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley considering three diplomatic issues. First, last Friday’s appearance by former US Undersecretary of State Richard Armitage at Keio University is discussed, especially as his comments related to the previous Seijigiri release. After that, talk turns to the upcoming session of the Six Party Talks and North Korea’s decisions to “ignore” the Japanese side at the talks. Finally, this portion of the discussion turns to Japan’s decision to cut off Overseas Development aid to Vietnam. Japan claims that Vietnamese politics is corrupt, while the incident in question involved bribery instigated by a Japanese firm. As Japan is the largest supplier of ODA to Vietnam, consequences of this decision are considered.

The second portion of the show turns to domestic politics. Prime Minister Aso Taro’s approval rating are in freefall. Although this comes as no surprise, the level of intra-party dissent has been somewhat surprising. Former candidate for prime minister Nobuteru Ishihara and former Reform Minister Yoshimi Watanabe have made waves with statements critical of Mr Aso, while Watanabe has been joined by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki and Toshimitsu Motegi in forming an association of diet members who are pushing Mr Aso to get the second part of his economic stimulus package through the Diet.

Are they really looking to push economic stimulus? The reality of the matter is that Mr Aso said he would dissolve the Diet and call a general election after getting the second part of the stimulus package through the Diet. These fifty-something lawmakers - the ara fifu group as Shisaku refers to them - seem to have realized that an Aso premiership is not going to lead the LDP to victory in the next election, whenever it may come.

Will the fear of self-preservation lead to further turmoil in the LDP? Did Koizumi make good on his promise to destroy the LDP? This edition of Seijigiri holds that some answers to these questions may come in the following weeks.

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Now that Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States, Seijigiri co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley are back with a look at how the Obama presidency might work within the context of the US/Japan alliance.

This release is broken into three broad categories: First, the background of the US/Japan alliance is considered. Second, the expectations of an Obama administration itself are examined. Finally, our co-hosts consider what impact changes in Japanese domestic politics might have on the alliance.

The background portion begins with the events of the Clinton administration, and President Clinton’s summit with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in 1996. It then moves to a discussion of two papers published by Richard Armitage, in 2000 and 2007. Finally, the discussion comes to the present by considering how the US/Japan alliance has evolved during the Bush administration.

The second part of the show focuses on what developments might be seen in terms of trade, politics and security during the Obama administration. The 2007 Armitage paper as well as Mr. Obama’s stated ideas on international trade form the backdrop to this section.

Finally, possible changes in Japanese domestic politics are discussed within the context of the US/Japan alliance. Such changes are heavily dependent upon the results of the upcoming lower house election, and the impact of such changes on trade is examined.

As always, thank you for listening!

Don’t forget, you can follow and keep in touch with TPR on Twitter. We’re TPRJP.

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In the tradition of Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder, Garrett the Butcher, Marcus the Baker, and Ken the Candlestick-maker gathered last Saturday night to discuss the upcoming US election, the McCain campaign and the caliginosity thereof, Taiwan, Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, chess boxing, Russell Crowe, prime numbers, Abraham Zapruder, Tectonic Plate Theory, and much, much more, and this podcast is the audio version (by transcription) of that meeting about Joseph Heller.

The 24 words Britain’s Collins English Dictionary has threatened to exuviate are:

Abstergent
Agrestic
Apodeictic
Caducity
Caliginosity
Compossible
Embrangle
Exuviate
Fubsy
Griseous
Malison
Mansuetude
Muliebrity
Niddering
Nitid
Olid
Oppugnant
Periapt
Recrement
Roborant
Skirr
Vaticination
Vilipend

As readers will notice, we have not only declined to define any of those words, but used some in the podcast and have listed only 23. We think you know what the 24th word is. We also have no idea what any of these words mean, but we’ll make something up if you ask us.

The video from the introduction of this podcast:

The West Tokyo Working-Men’s Literary Club is an idea that actually predates TPR, but took a while to come to fruition. The WTWMLC is an awkward acronym and meets irregularly on the West side of Metro Tokyo. Meetings are open to any and all attendees, and are recorded to be released in podcast form. If you would like to attend a meeting, please simply email us at transpacificradio@gmail.com.

Other videos sampled in this podcast are after the cut:

(Read on …)

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 West Tokyo #1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The 50th edition of Seijigiri begins with co-hosts Garrett DeOrio and Ken Worsley discussing Japans’s 26.9 trillion yen stimulus package. This package is compared to the 24 trillion yen package that was passed in 1998. Prime Minister Aso’s desire to raise the consumption tax in three year’s time is discussed as well; does it mean anything for the Prime Minister to be telling us what he wants to happen in three years?

After that, the discussion turns to Aso’s approval ratings and public perception. Although Aso’s approval ratings have only fallen slightly, his disapproval ratings are rising, and he has not come across as likable, a quality which may prove important with an election bound to happen sometime in the next ten months.

Talk then turns to the state of the US-Japan alliance. After the US removed North Korea from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, the predictable melodrama followed, with some saying that Japan had been stabbed in the back by its ally. Garrett describes why the US did Japan a huge favor, and Ken gives his opinion that not only will it have no long-term effect on the alliance, but that the event gave a select group of politicians and commentators their much-savored chance to let off some righteous indignation - even as the public already seems to have forgotten why they were supposed to care in the first place. Moving on…

Finally, the question of whether a Republican or Democratic US President is “better” for Japan is considered. Conventional wisdom holds that Republicans are somehow more committed to the US-Japan alliance, but does history really bear that out?

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 Seijigiri #50: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Although there’s less than a week until Election Day in the US, it is not too late to vote absentee, even if you have never registered to vote. This is true for civilians and military personnel alike, regardless of what state you’re from or how long you’ve been abroad.

You can use a Federal Absentee Write-In Ballot.

Do so, especially if you’re an Obama supporter. Remember, new voters, young people, and Democrats all have piss poor track records of actually showing up to vote, so it is incumbent upon you to make sure the results reflect the polls.

Remember: in no way whatsoever does voting or registering to vote affect taxes, criminal proceedings, lawsuits, warrants, or anything else that might be dogging you. Likewise, who has claimed you as a dependent, where you pay taxes, etc. are irrelevant to your right to vote.

Rob Fitts, author of Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball and the biography’s subject, baseball legend Wally Yonamine, the first American to play in Japan after WWII, the man who brought hustle and hard sliding to Japanese Pro Baseball, will be giving a reading of the book at the Tokyo American Club at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 9th.

From Mr. Fitts:

Please join Wally Yonamine and author Robert Fitts at the Tokyo American Club on November 9 from 11 AM to 2 PM for a book reading and signing of the new book Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball. All are welcome. It will be a great chance to meet Wally, ask him questions, and talk baseball with a member of the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.

DIrections and further information are available at WallyYonamine.com.