Why do Japanese politicians wave fish?

18 December 2012 Last updated at 00:12 GMT One of the victorious candidates in Japan's general election on Sunday appeared in front of cheering supporters holding a large fish. Why?

The politician was Shinjiro Koizumi, son of the retired former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who was re-elected to represent his father's former constituency for the conservative Liberal Democratic Party.

The fish was a tai, usually translated into English as "sea bream", or "red sea bream", or sometimes just as "snapper".

The fish is not a prop used by politicians alone. In fact, it is more commonly seen held aloft by winning sumo wrestlers - or on dinner plates to celebrate a happy occasion.

One reason given for this in Japan is the similarity between the word "tai", and the word for "joyous", "auspicious" or "deserving celebration" - o-medetai.

Mongolian wrestler Harumafuji marks his promotion to grand champion, or yokozuna, in September

"Holding the fish hints at a pun, the fish 'tai' stands for 'o-medetai'," says Dr Ulrich Heinze of the University of East Anglia.

Professor Ian Neary, of Oxford University, says it is actually "slightly unusual" for a politician to brandish a fish when celebrating victory.

"It's what sumo wrestlers do," he says. "The bigger the fish the better, it shows how tough they are."

When politicians do it, "it's mainly about mimicking what sumo wrestlers are seen to do after they win a tournament".

The wrestler holds the fish with one beefy hand. The politician may need two.

Japanese people will often eat tai at weddings, after the birth of a baby, or at New Year, for good luck.

Tai is, in fact, only one of a number of traditional New Year foods that are considered auspicious because of their names.

Continue reading the main story The tai fish is used to mark a victory, because its name is similar to the Japanese word for "deserving celebration"When politicians do it, they are mimicking victorious sumo wrestlersThe fish is often eaten for good luck on happy occasionsThese include dai-dai - an orange, whose name sounds like Japanese for "from generation to generation" - and mame, a bean, which sounds like the word for "healthy" or "well".

A similar linguistic determinism means that the number four is unlucky, because it sounds like the word for death, while a five-yen coin is considered lucky, because "five yen" sounds like the phrase for "good fortune".

The Japanese love of the tai, however, is not explained by its name alone. It is also one of the best-tasting fish.

Professor Tomoya Akimichi, a maritime anthropologist at Japan's Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, says it has long been considered the "king of fish" in Japan, eaten for at least 5,000 years, and once presented as an annual offering to the emperor.

Toru Hashimoto, Osaka prefecture governor, waves a victory sea bream in 2008

"Tai caught in the Inland Sea was transported to the fish markets in Osaka, where it was so popular that a special marketplace just for live tai was established in 1831," he writes.

A more traditional way for a politician to celebrate success is to paint an eye on a daruma doll. Daruma dolls start out with two blank eyes. A person making a wish - to win an election, for example - paints in one of the eyes. When the wish comes true, the other eye is painted in.

Junichiro Koizumi makes a wish in 2004, while Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara celebrates in April 2007

Junichiro Koizumi was photographed filling in one eye of a daruma before elections to the upper house of the Japanese parliament in 2004.

Another approach is to use mallets to break open a barrel of sake, the alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.

The sake can be used for toasting - or it may be drunk as an accompaniment to tai.

Alex Ferguson (left) grins as Man Utd chairman David Gill splashes the sake

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Japanese shares rise on Abe win

17 December 2012 Last updated at 06:35 GMT Speculation of increased stimulus measures have seen Japanese shares rise in past few weeks Japanese shares rose and the yen dipped after the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Shinzo Abe, won Japan's general elections.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 1% and the Japanese currency fell to a 20-month low of 84.48 yen against the US dollar.

Mr Abe has said he will implement measures to help revive the world's third-largest economy, which has been battling years of sluggish growth.

He has also promised to take steps to weaken the yen and fight deflation.

"The Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) big victory is in line with market expectations and it will help to keep the yen weak and share prices high, at least for now," said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Securities Japan.

Unlimited easing?

Japan's economy has been hurt by a variety of factors over the past few years, not least the strength of its currency, the yen.

A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive to foreign buyers and also hurts profits at the country's exporters, which rely heavily on foreign sales for growth.

The Japanese currency has been volatile in recent times and rose almost 6% against the US dollar between April 2011 and November 2012, despite efforts by the policymakers to try to weaken it.

Continue reading the main story The strength of the currency has led to concerns that some Japanese manufacturers may shift a part of their operations abroad in an attempt to maintain their competitiveness, a move that would further hurt the country's economy.

Japan has also been fighting deflation or falling prices for many years, which has affected domestic demand as consumers tend to put off their purchases in hopes of getting a better deal later on.

Before the elections, Mr Abe had said that he would implement measures directed at weakening the yen and fighting deflation.

He said that he would set an inflation target as high as 3% and even suggested that Japan's central bank, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), should print "unlimited yen" to help counter falling prices.

Analysts said that given the indications of a convincing win, Mr Abe should be able to introduce his policies, which they said might weaken the yen further.

Neil Gilbert a market strategist at GFT Forex said that the term of current governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) was scheduled to end in April neat year and Mr Abe "could get a BOJ governor who thinks along the same lines".

"Therefore, I see the yen continuing to weaken based on Abe's policy, and the future policy of his hand-picked governor," Mr Gilbert added.

Long term issues Continue reading the main story

The fact that Abe points to changes in the BOJ law or forex levels, or aggressive easing as solutions to Japan's problems is, if anything, worrying”

End Quote Yuuki Sakurai Fukoku Capital Management During the election campaign, Mr Abe had also suggested that he would look at changing the law that governs the central bank, in an attempt to have more control over it to ensure that the BOJ helps the government's efforts to boost growth.

However, there are fears that such a move may hurt the central bank's independence in the long run.

At the same time, some analysts said that the measures being suggested by Mr Abe were short-term solutions and that policymakers needed to address various key issues to ensure sustained economic growth.

"The fact that Abe points to changes in the BOJ law or forex levels, or aggressive easing as solutions to Japan's problems is, if anything, worrying," said Yuuki Sakurai, chief executive of Fukoku Capital Management.

"They should be treated as tools to buy time to implement structural reforms, but we're not hearing anything about deep reforms that the LDP wants to carry out."

Analysts say the new government will have to try to reduce Japan's debt, the highest among industrialised nations, while keeping its spending at a level that can support growth.

At the same time, Mr Abe will have to tackle the nuclear energy policy, which has become a key political issue after last year's earthquake and tsunami caused a radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Japan, which relied on nuclear power for almost one-third of its energy supplies before the incident, shut all its 50 nuclear reactors after the leaks.

The move has resulted in higher energy costs, and many big businesses want Japan to return to using nuclear power.

The shutdown of the nuclear reactors has also seen a rise in Japan's imports of energy sources such as oil and natural gas, resulting in its trade deficit widening.

While Japan restarted two reactors earlier this year, support for nuclear energy has dwindled and there have been various protests against it.

"He [Mr Abe] will try to renegotiate plans to restart some more nuclear reactors, but given the antinuclear sentiment with the public that will be extremely tough," Martin Schulz of Fujitsu Research Institute.

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