JF cuts

[Aaron Gerow]

Those of you watching the news in Japan may know that the big news is  
the so-called "jigyo shiwake" process that DPJ lawmakers have started.  
Basically, it is a working group charged with cutting waste from the  
national budget. The panel calls representatives of various budgeted  
organizations and institutions and in one hour, defend their entire  
existence. In the vast majority of cases, the panel has called for  
budget cuts or in some cases total elimination of some funded projects.

In general, the public is supporting this, if only because the LDP had  
for so long supported a bureaucracy that was funding projects just for  
the sake of a budget, or for their own post-retirement jobs  
(amakudari), or for paying for big construction jobs for friendly  
companies. There is a lot of waste out there, with many buildings  
built for the sake of spending the money, with no plan of how to use  
them. But opinion polls have also registered concern that the one-hour  
process is too short to analyze complex projects and the standards for  
judging these things is vague. Some of the projects given the axe may  
get revived later (this is not the final say), but it is not good news  
to suffer such public embarrassment (and the working group meeting  
have been daily TV fare).

Well, to make things short, the Japan Foundation, a subject for us as  
of late, suffered some major chops today. The main complaints were  
that JF and The Agency for Cultural Affairs both fund the same events  
(which is seen as a waste, even though that double funding may be  
necessary in some cases) and that the JF has too many amakudari (which  
has been possibly the main standard for the group to kill off  
projects). The JF was told to research returning the money it gets  
from the government to the degree that it doesn't hurt foreign  
relations. I have yet to see specifics, but I think it is clear that  
there is little chance that the JF will be increasing its help for  
Japanese film in the near future. In fact, the JF is probably in  
serious trouble.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University
53 Wall Street, Room 316
PO Box 208363
New Haven, CT 06520-8363
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6764
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
site: www.aarongerow.com