Switzerland is surrounded by mountains. It would be odd if the post of "navy minister" existed for that country. The term is said to be used jokingly by those related to governments in Europe.
At a party in Paris, when the emcee announced, "The Swiss navy minister has arrived," all of the French participants laughed loudly. However, the Swiss official who had been introduced in this way said calmly, "Your country's finance minister came to Switzerland recently, but none of us laughed."
It is said that at that time the fiscal deficits of the French government invited derisive laughter. The episode is recounted in a book by Tomomitsu Oba, a former vice minister of finance for international affairs at the Finance Ministry.
Today, the Japanese government budget plan for fiscal 2020 is announced, with record general-account spending of about 102.66 trillion yen. The nation's outstanding debt, exceeding 1.1 quadrillion yen and making Japan's ratio of debt to gross domestic product far higher than the ratios of other advanced countries, is expected to further increase. Japan is now in such a crucial debt situation that it would be no wonder if the combination of "Swiss navy minister and French finance minister" were to be replaced by "Swiss navy minister and Japanese finance minister."
The budget plan for fiscal 1966, during the high economic growth period, was 4.31427000 trillion yen. It was announced with a sunny play on words based on the nine digits of that number. With "yo" for four, "san" for three, and so on, the slogan "Yosan de Ii Yo Ni Na-are" carried the message, "It is hoped that a better society will come with the budget." This is a memory from a past that is becoming ever more distant.
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