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Monday, August 03, 2009

Party offers a third way: happiness
New force vows to allow in millions more foreigners, attack North Korea if voters tick the 'Happy' box

By DAVID McNEILL

As a historic general election looms on Aug. 30, Japan's long-suffering electorate faces a clear choice: vote for the conservative party that has virtually monopolized power since 1955, or opt for its more liberal but untested rival, which promises long-awaited reform. For those with a taste for the apocalyptic, however, there is always the Happiness Realization Party.

According to the Happiness Realization Party's Web site, President Ryuho Okawa is a reincarnation of Buddha who achieved Great Enlightenment in 1981 "and awakened to the hidden part of his consciousness, El Cantare, whose mission is to bring happiness to all humanity."

Offering what it calls a "third choice," the Happies have an eye-catching manifesto: multiply Japan's population by 2 1/2 to 300 million and make it the world's No. 1 economic power, and rapidly rearm for conflict with North Korea and China. If elected, the party's lawmakers will invite millions of foreigners to work here, inject religion into all areas of life, and fight to overcome Japan's "colonial" mentality, which has "fettered" the nation's true claim to global leadership.

A Happiness commercial posted on YouTube last week lays out the stakes. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is preparing to nuke Tokyo's Imperial Palace, bring Japan to its knees and enslave its people. "Japan will be unable to do anything about this because of its Constitution," Kim sneers in the clip, referring to the so-called pacifist clause — Article 9 — of the 1947 document, written under U.S. Occupation, which renounces the right to wage war.

... besides the two and half times population ...
... that looks out of reality ...
... and the "more religion" issue ...
... that may be quite opinable ...
... he may have a point on the article 9 ...

# posted by intcoex : 8:01 PM

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