Idio(syncra)tic Japan: Birds of a Feather at Toru Hashimoto's Party

Boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City Toru Hashimoto has been roundly condemned around the world for his tactless and ignorant remarks on "comfort women" and Japanese sex industry (recommending it to the Marines in Okinawa). As you would expect, his political party, Japan Restoration Party, is solidly behind him.

Here's the latest, literally incredible comment from a senior member of the party. Mr. Nariaki Nakayama is a Tokyo University graduate, former bureaucrat at the powerful Ministry of Finance, and former Minister of Education and Science and former Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism when he was with Liberal Democratic Party.

Mr. Nakayama commented on the meeting cancelled by the former Korean "comfort women" with Boy-wonder. The two women, after having observed how Boy-wonder tries to spin his own words to his advantage, changing stories and blaming others, decided they didn't want to be used in Boy-wonder's scheme to further spin the situation.

As Asahi Shinbun reports (5/25/2013), Nakayama tweeted the following:

元慰安婦と橋下市長の面会が急遽中止になった。支援団体側は、二人とも会いたくない、政治利用される心配もあると説明しているが、面談を申し入れて来たのもこれまで政治利用してきたのも先方側だった。橋下氏に強制連行の中身を鋭く追及されるのを怖れたか？化けの皮が剥がれるところだったのに残念。

Meeting between the former comfort women and Mayor Hashimoto was suddenly canceled. According to the support group, the two women don't want to meet [Mayor Hashimoto], as they are afraid they will be exploited for political purposes. But it was always their side who wanted to meet, and it has always been them who exploit the situation for political purposes. Were they afraid that Mr. Hashimoto would tenaciously question whether they were forcibly brought to [the location where they were made to serve as "comfort women"]? Too bad the meeting was canceled, otherwise their true colors would have been exposed.

Literal translation of the second half of the last sentence would be: "otherwise, their fake skin would have been ripped open [by Hashimoto]".

As to Boy-wonder himself, he now says he wants to apologize to people in the US and the US military, because his words were misunderstood.

Sure.

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