Yesterday's NHK broadcast was lively. In addition to the automated
automobile segment, it featured these stories:
Minister of Finance Nakagawa attended a major meeting in France and
held a press conference inebriated. It was embarrassing to watch. He
said he 6 gin & tonics the night before, wine with lunch, and an
overdose of cold medicine. He was canned today.
A video of him slurring and nearly falling asleep is here:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/the-home-front/2009/02/17/was-the-japanese-finance-minister-drunk.html
An MP has been battling the bureaucracy over delays in the
privatization of a government-owned chain of resorts and hotels. They
have presented him with ridiculous real estate valuations and a long
list of reasons why they cannot go through with the sale. Frustrated
and angry he denounced them with one of the most apt and hilarious
description of bureaucrats I have heard in English or Japanese (or a
combination of the two in this case):
Iiwake no on-pareedo!
Excuses on parade!
And in more serious news, Japan is now experiencing by far the
warmest winter weather ever recorded, which experts ascribe to global warming.
- Jed
