Monday, November 13, 2006

Sins of Commission

Well, it seems you cannot win them all through butterfly kissing the Chinese and the South Koreans:
DPJ Gains Momentum With Victory In Fukushima Governors Race
Nikkei Net
(English behind the subscription wall, free 日本語 here)

TOKYO--The Democratic Party of Japan is expected to step up its confrontational stance toward the ruling parties during the remaining month of the Diet session, emboldened by the Nov. 12 victory of the Fukushima Prefecture gubernatorial election by a candidate it supported.

It seems the people in the chihō are as ticked off about graft and corruption as them sophisticated city folks we so often hear about.

A victory by 102,000 votes in a multiparty election in Fukushima is a slaughter...and did I ever say anything about the significance of turnout for the Democratic Party?

On what was arguably one of the prettiest Sundays (albeit a bit windy and cold) in recent memory, right after a Saturday of dismal, incessant rain, 59% of eligible voters turned out for a by-election!

(Cue the Dragnet theme music)

And wouldn't you know it, the Okinawa gubernatorial election is next weekend, pitting a well-coiffed former member of the House of Councillors (59 - female) supported by all the opposition parties against the diminutive former president of Okinawa Electric Power and political novice (67 - male) supported by the LDP and the Komeitō.

Mooooommmmeeennnntuummmmm...

(Cue the Dragnet theme music again).

Aaahh, lookey here. Here's a Japan Times article on the Fukushima outcome (Link rot warning: JT links usually go dead within 48 hours)

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