The Yomiuri Shimbun
The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's Jan. 26 issue.
A poem from Machi Tawara's book "Hanasaku Uta" ("Flowering Poems," published as part of the Chuko Bunko pocketbook library), reads as follows:
A student cries
complaining his study has boiled down
First, you must consult a dictionary
to check the meaning of "boiled down"
The composer of this poem could well have been a teacher.
Nitsumaru (boiled down) is defined as a situation in which a problem nears a solution after all opinions have been presented and all points of contention addressed. It also refers to a situation in which a pot boils to the extent that evaporation occurs.
The student in question might have been comparing his stalemated mind to a pan that has overboiled.
A pending diplomatic issue is boiling down. Doubtless you are aware of which "nitsumaru" I am referring to. A rookie candidate opposing the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to Henoko, Nago, in Okinawa Prefecture, won the Nago mayoral election Sunday.
Nago residents--who formerly had backed the relocation plan--ultimately came out against the move due to statements by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama hinting that there are many other candidate sites for the relocation.
Upon hearing these remarks, the residents likely thought, "If that's the case, then we don't have to pull the chestnuts out of the fire by ourselves."
The Nago election result makes it more difficult to relocate the Futenma base to Nago as agreed on by the Japanese and U.S. governments. Nevertheless, no substitute candidate sites for Futenma have yet emerged.
How will the government find a way out of this impasse before the end of May--the deadline set by Hatoyama for finding a relocation site for Futenma?
If the prime minister ends up crying because his diplomacy has boiled down, it would not be deserving of a poem.
(Jan. 27, 2010)
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