Comments on Observing Japan: Does Abe have nothing to worry about come July?

Aceface would have a bit more credibility if s/he ...

2008-03-12T10:39:00.000+09:00

Aceface would have a bit more credibility if s/he could spell and write English. Having to wade through illiterate blogs is downright offensive. And accusing the blogger of being a ' Bush-era America imstalled [sic.] in Japan blogsphere' smacks of ethnocentrism - I don't recognise any 'Bush-like' tendencies in these blogs. In fact, Bush might learn a lot about Japan if he read them - not that he reads anything except his speeches/TV prompters. The blogs are extremely informative and facilitate debate on current politico-economic developments in Japan. Keep it up!!!

Hey.Don't apologize to me for anything.You are doi...

2008-01-13T02:15:00.000+09:00

Hey.Don't apologize to me for anything.
You are doing fine job at your blog and all.

I'm not trying to be any agent of influence for Ampontan.
But couple of month ago,I've read the site of Mindy Kotler's Asian Policy Point website and Ampontan's blog was reffered as
"Japan's Conservative Nationalist Project".
It has a link with this sentence.

"Est. January 2007 by an American expat in Kyushu. He parrots Japanese reactionary conservative websites and viewpoints. His choice of topics and timing are suspiciously close to one that a PR professional may choose who was speaking for MOFA. Also posts travelogue-type descriptions of charming Japanese festivals. Ampontan is a misspelling of Anpontan, Japanese for a simpleton."

And I saw a post from Garret Deorio of TPR on Ampontan's blog and asked if he was a lobbyist.

And I've found this on yours.

I shouldn't even be that serious about things on internet.
But I was just curious whether there was some concrete basis on accusation or simply a bad joke
among bloggers.

I thank you for an honest reply.
My trust upon the blog has now restored.

Best.
Aceface

Aceface,I apologize. This post was not one of my f...

2008-01-12T01:48:28.903+09:00

Aceface,

I apologize. This post was not one of my finest, in that it was more sarcastic than usual. At the time I was frustrated, in that every post Ampontan wrote it seemed that he was making excuses for the Abe government, despite serious problems with how Mr. Abe governed.

The yarase line was just a joke.

Hi.I've been reading your blog for a while.Nice wo...

2008-01-12T01:18:00.000+09:00

Hi.

I've been reading your blog for a while.Nice work.

Having said that,I must confess it was pretty depressing to see Beijing wall paper-like accusation from one blogger to another occures like this without any debate involved.

I understand Ampontan's writing is not within the norms of expat Japan bloggers.
He does not paint groom-and-doom pitures of Japan that much,he also does not talk about Japanese politics from afar at one point,and then start micromanaging with a ten thousand mile screw driver.
He also does not preach things like damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't-manner from elevated position,which makes him distinctively different from other expat bloggers on the subject.

I don't agree with Ampontan all the time and in this case,you were right about Ampontan(and Abe)turns out to be wrong.

But the way you've presented this was not very fair to Ampontan to my eyes and made me pretty skeptic about factual accuracy about other contents in your blog.

So is Ampontan actually taking money from office of Shinzo Abe?
or is this just another character assassination by a policy wonk wannabe,an increasing political trend of Bush-era America imstalled in Japan blogsphere.

Aceface