Reading about America's dystopian future ("A wry squint into the future of the U.S." by George Will, in the March 12 edition) makes you wonder how oppressive Japan's LDP will become by 2030.
After all, the LDP has never pretended to care much for democratic values. It just pays lip service to such things. "Hurry up and die" advocate Taro Aso will be long gone by 2030, but there's the former mayor of Osaka, little Toru Hashimoto, in the wings who thinks sex slaves are neat!
And the LDP will have new toys like supercomputers and a very able and intrusive National Police Agency all working hard to fight "terrorism" — and keeping ordinary Japanese proles or factory fodder in line. The revolt of the salaryman? Don't think so. Straitjacket-society Japan loves to keep the salaryman on a very short leash. Dentsu uses such workers as virtual slave labor.
Japan's population will be so feeble and geriatric by 2040 that much of the annual government budget will have to be spent on canes, physical therapy and day care assistance for the 40 percent of Japanese people over the age of 70.
At least Japan's version of Big Brother won't have to worry about the any of these old fogeys trying to lead a counterrevolution. Did you ever notice that Edward Snowden never tried to seek asylum in Japan? Even Russia seemed like a better alternative. Go figure. What does Snowden think of Japan's "1984" dystopian future, or has it already arrived?
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.