Hatoyama Yukio, DPJ secretary-general and brother of justice minister Hatoyama Kunio, has responded to his brother's absurd comments about his "friend of a friend."
This is the kind of thing we wonks were waiting for when Mr. Abe brought Kunio into the cabinet in August. Sooner or later there would be something that would require Yukio going after his brother. (I just received Mayumi Itoh's account of the Hatoyama clan in the post today, luckily, and am now ever more eager to read it.)
In any case, Yukio responded by saying precisely what I said yesterday, arguing, "He probably wanted to say that Al Qaeda is near, but if that's the case, it is essential that he contact his friend to make inquiries about the situation and where this man is." Yukio was actually fairly tame in his criticism, using the word "thoughtless" as opposed to a number of other, stronger words that might be more appropriate in this situation.
I remained convinced that for once it would be entirely reasonable for the DPJ to push for Hatoyama Kunio's resignation.
This is the kind of thing we wonks were waiting for when Mr. Abe brought Kunio into the cabinet in August. Sooner or later there would be something that would require Yukio going after his brother. (I just received Mayumi Itoh's account of the Hatoyama clan in the post today, luckily, and am now ever more eager to read it.)
In any case, Yukio responded by saying precisely what I said yesterday, arguing, "He probably wanted to say that Al Qaeda is near, but if that's the case, it is essential that he contact his friend to make inquiries about the situation and where this man is." Yukio was actually fairly tame in his criticism, using the word "thoughtless" as opposed to a number of other, stronger words that might be more appropriate in this situation.
I remained convinced that for once it would be entirely reasonable for the DPJ to push for Hatoyama Kunio's resignation.
3 comments:
I still can't get over the notion that someone who collects butterflies with the ministry of justice hangs around Al Qaeda members.
Sounds a bit fishy to me. Methinks the member is mistaken.
Bryce:
It is clear that you do not understand the world of lepidopterists. Or "collectors" in general.
As a guy who, many years ago, grew a bunch of Luehdorfiae japonicae, a rare species of Japanese papilionid butterflies, from egg to imago - keeping the little maggots fed was a real chore - it was the revelation that the Justice Minister got the information from a butterfly collecting friend that made me think that he had not been hallucinating after all.
Hatoyama Yukio always seemed like a reasonable politician to me. A left of center type from a distinguished political family who fits in well with the DPJ profile. Don't know much about his brother Kunio but after this episode he seems to be a crackpot and a bit unbalanced to me.
Post a Comment