"Japan leader’s wife criticizes him in book" by Associated Press | July 24, 2010
TOKYO — In a new book, the wife of Prime Minister Naoto Kan questions whether he is fit for Japan’s top job and suggests his tenure might be short-lived.
He already pissed off the U.S.?
In “You Are Prime Minister, So What Will Change in Japan?’’ which was released this week, Nobuko Kan lists a host of her husband’s shortcomings, from his failure to do housework to his hot temper.
But it also depicts the premier, who took the job last month, as a caring father of two sons. And when he speaks spontaneously, he can be inspiring, she says. But not when he reads his speeches.
Kan, 63, has often called his wife “the opposition at home.’’ Asked by reporters about the book, Kan said he was too scared to read it.
The book comes as Kan struggles to revive sagging public support after his ruling party suffered a heavy defeat in upper house elections two weeks ago. That result heightened speculation he could join the conveyor belt of recent Japanese prime ministers....
Related: Japanese Kan Job
No one is falling for it.
Japanese culture encourages a deprecating humility about members of one’s family or one’s belongings, while praising one’s neighbors.
Maybe Americans could learn something there.
Maybe we wouldn't be at war so often with so many different people.
But it is virtually unprecedented for a Japanese first lady to speak so bluntly....
--more--"Let's hope the PM doesn't lock himself away:
"Tokyo loses track of its oldest citizen" by Associated Press | August 4, 2010
TOKYO — The disappearance follows last week’s grisly discovery — also by officials updating the most-elderly list — that the man listed as Tokyo’s oldest male, who would have been 111 years old, had actually been dead for some 30 years and his decayed body was still in his home.
The stench must have been unbearable.
--more--"
