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I love Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party because if there is a political group that’s the best at electing bad candidates, it’s them. It’s been less than a year since Prime Minister Taro Aso has taken office and he’s already torrentially sundered his reputation.
Taro Aso stands out as the closest thing to a social minority for a Prime Minister. He’s Roman Catholic, and to the best of my knowledge, he may even be Japan’s few non-Shinto or Buddhist affiliated PM. He’s also a furious racist who has gone on the record of making several discriminatory remarks before the press.
Back in 2001, Hiromu Nonaka may have been the closest thing to a minority Prime Minister that Japan would ever have. He was among one of the many candidates up for consideration to replace Yoshiro Mori. Nonaka is a descendent of the burakumin, an outcast social minority group comparable to India’s untouchables and the baekjeong of Korea. In spite of the disbandment of Japan’s feudal caste system, its society still attaches a negative stigma to the descendants of the burakumin. In a private meeting, when the topic of Hiromu Nonaka came up, Aso said: “We are not going to let someone from the buraku become the prime minister are we?”
He’s made insensitive remarks against the Jews, the Chinese, and White people. The list goes on and on. What’s even more delightful is that his family, The Taro Aso Mining Company practically based the foundation of their business on ethnic slave labor. British, Dutch, Australian, and even Koreans worked under forced labor for his family’s business-an appropriate bit of conduct that coincides with his controversial remarks.
What’s even more vexing is that just when Japan had the sense to elect someone like Yasuo Fukuda with enough sense to stay away from Yasakuni Shrine, they had to replace him with this guy. Aso voiced the wish to have to emperor revisit this controversial landmark which partially venerates people convicted of warcrimes.
I find comfort in knowing that if Sarah Palin is ever elected as President, then the LDP will outmatch us in terms of electing someone worse than this Aso-hole.
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