Japan Needs a Dog...

... a large, amiable, tail-wagging shaggy dog.

You know how it goes. A guy gets mad at something that happens at work, he goes home and yells at his innocent wife, who takes it out on the kids, who start picking on the dog. The dog takes it all in stride, wags his tail, licks everybody's hands, and peace returns.

Japan doesn't have a dog to kick around.

Some people are still hopping mad because postal services were privatized, causing the loss of a lot of patronage jobs in the boonies. Never mind that postal banking continues unchanged and packages and letters are still delivered faithfully.

Leading the cry for government blood is Shizuka Kamei, who has been carrying the postal grudge since the reign of Junichiro Koizumi, several Prime Ministers ago. That's a long time, and the grudge has grown uglier and heavier.

It might have been better for Japan if they could have simply snarled at the dog and let the country go on with its main business of bringing the economy back to life.

Japan needs a national dog.