An article with regard to 30 candidates of new words and buzzwords in 2024 has been already published in November. Among them, there are words such as “50-50” which refers to 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases achieved by Ohtani in the Dodgers, MLB for the first time in history, “slush fund issue” of Liberal Democratic Party faction and “rice shortage in Reiwa”. New words related to harassment such as power harassment, sexual harassment and customer harassment are increasing rapidly, even though these are not among the candidates.
By the way, the recent prevalence of words directly transliterated from English into katakana at random is also a point of concern. For instance, Narrative, Agile, Deja vu, Norm, Alumni and so on. On top of that, there are cases that attach Japanese translations to katakana words unnecessarily. If it is to express a special meaning or to be unconventional, it is different but I assume Japanese terms alone is sufficient.

■■What I have recently thought and focused on:
■Election for the House of Representatives:
The ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito) lost a significant number of seats and fell below the majority in the House of Representatives election held on October 28.
I wrote down in the issue before last (the 153th issue published on October 11) that “What was a cause of this dissolution in a hurry? After all, it assumes an election of ‘purification or starting over again’. The Liberal Democratic Party will have a really hard time but opposition parties will have no decisive factor, and the public will be lost”. Causes of the ruling party’s defeat are as follows. ① The timing of the dissolution was rushed. Wouldn’t it have been better to take a more deliberate approach? ② Public’s severe view for slush fund issue. The public is still not convinced. ③ The Liberal Democratic Party distributed 20 million yen to the branch (including some branches where members of Parliament who left the party due to slush fund issue are the top) under the guise of activity funds towards the end of election campaign. This put an end to its life and the tide turned in favor of the opposition parties all at once.
The late Prime Minister Abe had an outstanding political skill, especially in diplomacy, but he had low popularity among women in opinion polls and “not a good character” was the biggest reason. But he was on a winning streak in elections, and he truly knew “the art of waging war (divine timing)”. Then, it is the same as old warlords, and the politicians gather whether they like him or not and his centripetal force increases. In this regard, Prime Minister Ishiba stumbled in the first round. In the future, it will be necessary to cooperate with some of the opposition parties in managing political affairs, and he will be unable to come up with his individuality and will be stuck in a very difficult situation.

■Presidential election in the United States:
There was an unexpected large margin in presidential election in the United States that was the last election in election year and the most notable in the world, and former President Trump made a comeback. His winning factors are considered as follows. ① He stuck to the theatrical style and attracted the general public that were dissatisfied with the current administration ② He thoroughly scooped up public dissatisfaction with economic policies (anti-inflation measures ) by Biden administration and immigration issues ③ Surviving two assassination attempts matched the image of “a strong president” that the American people are seeking for. ④ Now, the American people are losing the leeway or generosity to look outward, and so on.
And the United States will reinforce isolationism or protectionism from now on. It seems to me that it will strengthen the confrontational stance against China in terms of trade such as an increase in a tariff and so on. But pushing China too far may could make Russia, North Korea and China more and more united. What will the United States be like four years from now when Mr. Trump completes his term? Will it be more right-wing or back on track? I am curious about it.
Anyway, from the Japanese perspective (common sense), the results may come as a surprise, but the American people chose their president and then it is necessary for us to accept the results. And “the United States is a self-sufficient country and can make it without Japan without much trouble. But Japan can’t make it without support and cooperation of the United States including security”. This is a harsh reality for Japan. And it is necessary for us to be aware that “an emotional dependence” previously allowed will no longer be tolerated. By the way, getting on with the type like Mr. Trump needs to “be compatible” or have chemistry. In this regard, the late Prime Minister Abe was excellent. Who among the current Japanese politicians can skillfully “deal” with him?

■There have been a series of scandals over stock trading:
Tokyo Stock Exchange has asked listed companies to increase their corporate value with a focus on stock prices since corporate governance code was enhanced 10 years ago. The effect was seen and the Nikkei stock average surpassed the highest value reached during the bubble period (in December 1989) for the first time in 34 years.
However, incidents that shake the credibility of the securities industry to its core have been recently occurring one after another. For instance, ① An employee of the Tokyo Stock Exchange is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Committee for insider trading. ② A judge being on loan to the Financial Services Agency has repeated stock trading based on inside information about the company that he learned about in the course of his work. ③ An employee of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank that is supposed to be in a position to advice and guide companies on shareholder and general meeting strategies has engaged in insider trading by buying and selling stocks based on information that he learned about in the course of his work. ④ Nomura Securities has engaged in unfair transactions involving government bond futures.
Overall, both the public and private sectors in Japan is lax in information management, and I feel a danger. This point causes the public’s anxiety and distrust towards the government. I think it is also affecting the spread of My Number system. At this rate, no matter how the government or the Tokyo Stock Exchange advocates for becoming “an asset management nation”, it is unlikely to gain the trust of domestic and international investors.

■High-tech crime:
It is said that the amount of damage due to “social media investment scam” defrauding people of money through fake advertisements on social media from January to September this year reached 70.3 billion yen, 4.7 times compared to the same period last year. And the amount of damage due to “romance scam” in the same period was 27.1 billion yen, 2.4 times compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, the amount of damage due to “phone scam pretending a family member” reached 56.6 billion yen last year. And the number of damage due to “ransomware” encoding date on a computer and demanding ransom was 114 from January to June this year increased by 11 compared to the same period last year, and after 2022, the number has remained high at around 200 per year.
And “an illegal part-time job” is also getting brutal, and in that case, an application created in 2014 called “signal” is being used. By using this, communications can’t be viewed by a third party including operation side, and there is a mechanism where the message disappears after a specified time once the recipient opens it and it is said that restoration is difficult. Like this, recent crime is becoming more sophisticated and high-tech. IT and AI have “a bright side” bringing convenience to our lives but on the other hand, misuse increases crime and disrupts society. Therefore, appropriate regulations for IT and AI are essential.