The Calm before the Storm

I was reminded recently – well, early in May – that I have a blog. It seems I have been more idle than usual.

I had an intention to revisit the north of Japan to volunteer once again and see firsthand how the recovery efforts were progressing. This has not happened. Instead, I found myself recently idling in Athens, Greece for a brief time.

The inevitable question arises when this piece of information is offered: “How is Greece?”

I think we will find out this weekend. For the moment, Greece is in political limbo. The inconclusive outcome of the last election, in which anti-austerity and seemingly anti-euro parties did best, but ultimately unable to form a viable government. The rematch is Sunday. The outcome will tell us how Greece is.

For the moment, Greece is calm. Fortunate enough to have been in Athens a few times over the past year, I can say it was much calmer now than eight months ago. In September last year while I was there, there were demonstrations in Syntagma square, strikes by bus drivers, train conductors, and taxi drivers. The center of the city was blocked. The day after I left, Molotov cocktails flew into buildings around the square.

This month, there was none of that. This time the square was bustling with tourists, the open air bars and cafes were packed. To be sure, there was nervousness that this year’s big shipping exhibition would be lightly attended, but this would appear to not be the case. The opulent parties that coincide with the biannual exhibition overflowed. As a Swede at one party said as the second Ferrari and third top-end Mercedes pulled up to the valet, “What crisis?”

Indeed, even away from the exhibition and events, bars and restaurants were lively with young Greeks. The Plaka was again full of tourists. The planes to and from Athens were full. In short, it was a lot like it was two summers ago – and without the threat of strikes.

What happens Sunday will tell us how Greece is. It may lead to a messy default and exit from the euro. It may bring back to power the parties that attempted to implement the austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF, and which sparked the demonstrations. But for now, Athens is calm.

On the campaign trail

In a couple of short weeks, Japan will hold local elections at the city level. Fortunately for the residents of this country, the campaign season is mercifully limited to a few short weeks for each election cycle. That is not a lot of time to prepare the electorate for the day. Thus, the politicians have been on the campaign circuit from morning to night "debating" the issues. To the left is the debating platform of choice for local elections. When you get to the national level, you get a bus with bigger and more speakers.

Politicians or their designated mouth-pieces spend the day cruising the neighborhoods of their district, screaming "good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening", "elect (insert name of candidate here) and "thank you" through their sound systems at the unsuspecting citizenry.

Any resident within a six block radius is well aware of this message. Those at 100 meters endure a ringing in the ears for a few minutes. Any closer and you would probably just go deaf.

Local elections are over in a couple of weeks, at which point the din of Tokyo returns to normal until the campaign season for the upper chamber of parliament kicks off in June. They get the buses -- there's something to look forward to.