Dr. Ofir Haivry, as I wrote in the forecast of this podcast, is the very first guest. I honestly had some concerns when I started to exchange messages with him. I talked with him for a while, and he kindly agreed to become my first guest. He’s very special to me in that manner and for this podcast, “Hannah Klein’s Time.”
As I introduced Dr. Haivry in the first episode, he’s the Vice President of the Herzl Institute, an advisor to higher education in Israel’s educational board. He’s a very prominent political scientist and philosopher, and has numerous publications.
I didn’t use Substack, but later found this newsletter platform very interesting. In the last two episodes, I asked him to talk about Israel and Zionism, which is his field of study.
One of the concerns I was talking to him about was Japanese politics. It was pretty grim to even look at the future. I wondered if there is a real tomorrow in LDP politics, and at the same time, was very disappointed at how the politics were carried out during the Kishida administration and the Ishiba administration. When Prime Minister Kishida made a speech in Congress, he sounded like being a “good boy” in a speech contest. We, the Japanese, don’t need exactly this “participant-like” attitude.
It’s important to maintain a code of ethics. From that perspective, I thought it was a total failure during the two administrations after Prime Minister Abe. It became worse and worse after he passed away, and at some point, after October 7th, I was having some speech problems to overcome. However, I have to clearly say here that Israel has always been a very important nation for me since my childhood, and I had to and decided to clearly say, “I love Israel and its people.” Their kindness, and more.
The last LDP election was a great disappointment to me. To me, the candidate, at that time, Ms. Sanae TAKAICHI was very attractive. Not because of the way she made a speech. I mean, speech is important, but what the voters want to hear is the real guts and strong will to change. She clearly told the last time what Japan needed.
This election, as I discussed with Dr. Haivry and he pointed out, the number of votes by the MPs was overwhelmed by the popular votes, which were held among the LDP members. I think it was one of the very few moments in my life that I felt some excitement in finally getting some shining light in the change of Japanese politics.
There was a lot that we discussed. I pray and hope that the Japanese economy will recover and become resilient. Also, I talked about the overwhelming amount of expectations and commendations among people engaged in business from many countries about Japan. I feel that Japan will shift as it was, not in an old firm manner, but in the resilience and hope that Japan has always had.
It’s Sunday, and I’d like to pray for the good future of Japan and its open Indo-Pacific Region, which Prime Minister Abe left as his legacy. And, this region will thrive in the future. He left this gift for the future.
