Literally, he says he will pick up chestnuts out of fire.
17th Century French poet La Fontaine wrote a fable, after Aesop, in which a cat is coerced by a monkey to pick up chestnuts in the hot embers. The cat did it, but burned its paws badly. The monkey ate all the chestnuts.
Mr. Kaieda is saying he will be the cat, even if he knows it will burn his paws - i.e. ruin his career as politician.
Mr. Kaieda, who lost to Mr. Noda in the second round of the leadership election in August last year, partly thanks to NHK's erroneous reporting, is so far the only candidate for the Democratic Party of Japan's leadership election scheduled for December 25.
Younger politicians with ambitions like Seiji Maehara and Goshi Hosono have already declared they are not running this time.
From Asahi Shinbun (12/22/2012):
民主党の海江田万里元経済産業相は２２日、東京都内のホテルで記者会見し、「あえて火中の栗を拾う気持ちで代表選に臨むことを決意した」と述べ、２５日投開票の党代表選に立候補する考えを表明した。赤松広隆元農林水産相、大畠章宏元経済産業相のほか、旧民社党グループも支援に回る見通し。代表選への立候補表明は海江田氏が初めて。
Banri Kaieda, ex-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and a Democratic Party of Japan member, held a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo on December 22 and declared his candidacy in the leadership election to be held on December 25. He said, "I have decided to enter the leadership election, to pick up chestnuts in the hot embers." Former Minister of Agriculture Hirotaka Akamatsu, former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akihiro Ohata, and the former Democratic Socialist Party group are expected to support him. Mr. Kaieda is the first person to declare candidacy in the leadership election.
Meanwhile, Japan Future Party under Ms. Yukiko Kada, governor of Shiga Prefecture is planning to work very closely with Social Democratic Party in the Lower House, forming a parliamentary group. Ms. Kada's party managed to send 7 members to the Lower House in the December 16 election, and there are two Social Democrats who survived the election.
As I posted previously, Ms. Kada has expressed her intention to work closely with the boy wonder's party (Japan Restoration Party).
I do have a feeling that people may wish DPJ were still in power.
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4 comments:
Based on their mishandling of the Fukushima incident, DPJ deserved to be thrashed in the election. Had they embraced the people's will to start decommissioning nuclear reactors, perhaps their other mistakes could have been overlooked.
LDP is back, but that return will be temporary if they fail to learn the lessons that booted them from office three years ago, and that booted DPJ this time. Japan stopped being a one party state three years ago. And in this past election, they stopped being a two party state as well. Third parties are becoming more acceptable options.
LDP should learn from the mistakes of the DPJ. It's a new world. Stop nuclear power now.
Third parties are becoming more acceptable? More like all parties have melted into one 'blob' that is threatening the public welfare.
If anything, third parties have lost credibility, not just seats.
Unfortunately, most people do not even know what's involved in decommissioning. They think inserting the control rods would do it.
I agree with Vyse TPTB are not going to let an actual third party exist it is the same in the US. The people in power (outside the government) don't want to see their puppets replaced with an unknown quantity that might try to hold them responsible for their failures.
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