• Strine Strife

    Laudable by Libs (Outside of Office) and Skillful Journalism

    For much of my life, I was something of a political animal, tempered by social requirements, but eventually tamed and then driven into apathy by circumstance. However, given a chance this week to watch a series of brilliant documentaries about Australian politics with a Tokyo connection, I felt stirrings of an old flame. Mark Willacy, a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation who was based in Tokyo as its North Asia correspondent from 2008 to 2013, interviewed more than 60 current and former Australian politicians for the three-part documentary series, Nemesis, that aired over the past couple of weeks and…

  • Strine Strife

    情けね~!豪州元副首相ボロボロバーナビーが地面で泥酔、卑語を叫ぶ

    自民党が裏金問題などは日本で政治スキャンダルが依然として相次ぐが、オーストラリアも情けない政治家が多数いて、恐らくその典型的な例が元副首相で元国民党党首であるバーナビー・ジョイス氏。 上記の街中で倒れている泥酔オッサンは先週のジョイス氏。国会後の集会で処方箋の薬を飲みながらお酒も飲んで倒れたという。 世論で大騒ぎとなりましたが、国民党からも連立パートナーである保守系の自由党にも制裁・処罰なしでそのまま政治家として継続出来ます。 同氏が「処方箋の通り、<飲めば害を与える効果もあり>のとおりだ>」というが、謝りも懲りている様子もない。ジョイス氏はこの赤恥の常習犯だ。 ジョイス氏そもそも田舎の支持者が多い国民党有権者のため農家らしい格好やしぐさをするが、実際に政治家になる前に農家と関係なく都会にある名門私立学校を卒業した後金融界を減って会計士となり、ほとんどの友人が裕福層である。 保守系の政治家で同性婚反対など、伝統的価値観の提唱ながら4人を一緒に育った妻と結婚している間に2018年に数十年若い秘書と子供を出来ちゃって家族を捨てて秘書と同棲することになった。秘書と一緒にテレビのインタービュー中、ジョイス氏が「(当時)おなかの中の子供が誰のか分からない」と言って認知を逃げるような行為をしたが、後になって自分の子供だと認めた。以降、結婚して今二人の子供を夫婦として育ているが、ジョイス氏の行動によってマルコム・ターンボール元総理が言われている「ボンク・バン(性行為禁止法)」を保守連立政治家に命じた。 その前、2010年代半ばオーストラリア政治家の間で大問題となった二重国籍問題も巻き込まれた。オーストラリアは二重国籍が認めているが、国会議員が適用外。ジョイス氏が厳しく(当時)野党員を追求し二重国籍である者の辞表を追い詰めた。 が、数年たったら、ジョイス氏自身がニュージーランド国籍も取得していることが判明。議席は失わないで同国籍を破棄したが、偽善的な立場を触れない。だが、ニュージーランドは、このことに対して、2017年にジョイス氏を「ニュージーランド人・オブ・ザ・イヤー」としてノミネートした(受賞しなかった)。 ジョイス氏が秘書と出来ちゃった婚事件で国民党党首を辞表した。しかし、連立パートナーであった前首相スコット・モリソン氏がコロナウイルスの大流行中、外遊中時、ジョイス氏がちゃっかりと国民党の党首投票を呼びかけ世論も連立内で嫌われても国民党内の圧倒的な指示によって再び党首となった。恐らくモリソン氏が国内にいれば、国民党内の投票を辞めさせただろう、と多くのアナリストが推測する。 ジョイス氏も国際的なスキャンダルに巻き込んでいる。2015年にジョニー・デップ氏と当時の妻アンバー・ハード氏がオーストラリアで撮影した際、ハード氏の愛犬を正しい入国手続きをしなかったことに対してジョイス氏が猛反対し、その犬たちを安楽死させるように強く主張した。デップ氏が謝りビデオを作成してことを済んだがジョイス氏の過剰反応が国内外でかなり批判された。 ジョイス氏が国民党党首を2022年選挙敗戦に伴って辞めたが、今でもシャドー内閣の野党の重要人物である。 考えRooも恥をたくさん起こした。特におい酒を飲んだ時。人のことを言えない。が、納税者の血税を受けながらジョイス氏のような行為をしていません。民間企業だったら許されるような行為ではないと思う。そして、保守系連立は犯罪は非社会的な行為に対して厳しい見解を示しながらジョイス氏に対してルールが違うように見えるのが不思議と思うのは考えRooだけじゃないと思う。

  • Daily Life

    Barking Mad at a Dog Marathon

    In a move I’m pretty sure I’ll end up regretting later this week, I spent nearly all day helping out at a dog marathon and having the time of my life! I was supposed to help clean our village this morning, which is one of the requirements for living here. But rain intervened. A friend had previously asked me to help out in the cleaning and operation of his mate’s dog marathon event, the first of its kind in Tokyo, apparently. The mate expected maybe a couple of dozens entries….almost 600 dogs applied (each paying a pretty hefty 4,000 yen…

  • Strine

    The First Class First Nations Film Festival

    For a measly 1,000 yen I got to get a totally unexpected and delightfully amazing full day’s entertainment, a couple of souvenirs and an all-round wonderful time at the 2024 First Nations Film Festival held by the Australian Embassy in Tokyo at EUROSPACE. I’ve always been sympathetic to the cause of Indigenous Australians as I’ve understood it, but in recent years I’ve developed a bit of empathy fatigue, or even borderline antipathy, as the blame for society’s shortcomings are increasingly laid at the feet of all white men. So when Mrs. Kangaeroo expressed an interest in going to the festival…

  • Daily Life

    ‘Bitch-face’ Lovebird

    I’m the ‘proud'(?) parent of a rosy-faced lovebird, who I must admit brings an immense amount of joy into my life, but I also learned a new Japanese phrase over the weekend that perfectly sums up these tiny avian pterrors! Kozamesu, a contraction of the term kozakura inko mesu, literally a female rosy-faced lovebird, is a term used to describe the feisty nature of the birds. A loose translation of the word kozamesu could be something like bitch-face lovebird. And my experience suggests the term is spot-on! From the almost constant and often painful biting, aggressive defense of anything perceived…

  • Daily Life

    Gazing at Japanese Tit Birds

    Having put in the most demanding week of work I’ve done in years, then been woken early after a mostly sleepless night, I’ve kicked off this long-awaited weekend by sitting at the living room window and gazing for hours at Japanese tits. In a life increasingly marked by failure, it’s fair to say that one area in which I’ve excelled is in having a good eye for the birds. With a constant companion twittering away while nibbling on my ear, it’s hard to keep my mind of things like boobies and other types of tits, and before I come across…

  • Daily Life

    Banking On Banksia

    Having caught the propagating bug last year, I’ve decided to try my hand at growing my own plants again in 2024, this time turning to the difficult proposition of raising banksias, the flower that most symbolizes Australian flora in my eyes. So far, my luck with banksias hasn’t been great, mainly thanks to ignorance and ill preparation to be fair. And impatience, perhaps? Kangaeroo Corner has a banksia that has grown well since it’s initial planting almost two years ago, but it has yet to flower for us. I expect it will do so one day. But I still want…

  • Daily Life

    Fountain of Strewth Frozen Over!

    It’s a gloriously sunny morning today, but bloody freezing, as attested to by the Fountain of Strewth freezing over. Birds are coming to Kangaeroo Corner throughout the day every day at this time of year, largely to enjoy a drink or a bath from the Fountain of Strewth. I broke the ice so our avian mates would be able to imbibe if they wanted to, but couldn’t refill the bath as the hose has frozen over. My sports drink formed ice crystals during the morning ride. I’m not a great fan of the cold, but Tokyo has a pretty good…

  • Daily Life

    Devil Laughs

    Nobody else but me is gonna understand just how ironic this post is (provided it even makes it onto the site) as I type it out in an MS Word file rather than directly into the blog as I would usually do. With a couple of extra hours available to me this morning, I always had it in mind to write a post with the above title. What I hadn’t calculated was just how accurate that it would turn out to be. I was going to write about how 2024 has been nothing like how I had imagined it would…

  • Strine Songs

    Sounds to Trigger an Aussie

    Prompted by a Scottish mate’s post on Twitter about a tune that reminds him of his homeland, I got to thinking about the same kinds of songs that have an effect on me regarding Australia, my native country. While doing so, I realized there are probably a few shared by just about every Aussie on the planet. For Australians in their mid-60s and under, there is only one answer to the question posed by Doc Neeson and the Angels in their 1976 song, Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? Ironically, the song was only a minor hit when…