Word: manga
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...disease and said he wanted Japan to be an attractive destination for "rich Jews"), Aso, 68, cuts a sharply different figure from his dour predecessors, Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda--whose tenures were dogged, respectively, by scandal and partisan gridlock. A former Olympic sharpshooter and an avid fan of manga comics, he has stressed energizing Japan's flagging economy but must overcome voter disaffection with his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party...
Despite the LDP's precarious position, Aso does have some things going for him. A famously avid fan of manga comics and the first to set up an award for non-Japanese cartoonists, the ex-foreign minister has gained the support of young voters. His characteristic off-the-cuff remarks win him the image of a gruff political straight shooter - he admits, for instance, that he is "prone to pork-barrel spending," but says that to reinvigorate Japan's economy he plans to spend more to stimulate domestic demand. "The economic situation is getting tough," said Aso on Sept...
Japan's ruling party is betting on a little attitude going a long way. On Sept. 22, the Liberal Democratic Party gave itself a personality injection by electing Taro Aso, a Roman Catholic, "manga"-loving conservative with a wry smile and a sharp tongue, as its new president. The LDP must now wait to see if Aso's ascendance will be enough for the party to regain the five-decade legislative stranglehold it lost last year in the Diet...
...expectation is that the much-more appealing leadership could restore confidence in the party and help it win the general elections that needs to take place before Sept. 2009. Aso is a political golden boy, in spite of his 67 years, who is known for his love of manga or Japanese-style comic books. Some consider him destined for the top office, given his array of personal ties to former prime ministers and to the Imperial family itself (His brother-in-law is a prince, the first cousin of Emperor Akihito). That higher personality profile, both more elite and more...
...needn't be a scholar to enjoy this wondrous poem, which continually marvels us with its grand gestures: moments of divine intervention, political assassination plots, infernal visions and hellish battles with chimerical fiends. Recent pop culture has tackled the Buddha, from fantastic depictions (see Osamu Tezuka's eight-volume manga interpretation of his life) to the absurd (one thinks of a bronzed Keanu Reeves strutting as Siddhartha in Little Buddha). Yet you would be hard pressed to find anything that ranks close to the Buddhacarita, which still mesmerizes with its vividness and sheer audacity...