Word: tanaka
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...appears to be a whole different ball game in the provinces. The re-election on Sept. 1 of Yasuo Tanaka as governor of Nagano prefecture is a sign that, at long last, Japanese democracy is coming of age. Citizens are tired of pork-barrel construction projects and politics as usual. So they are handing power to leaders who seem genuinely committed to doing things differently...
...Tanaka's outrageous personal style?his stuffed animal collection, his bright ties, his see-through "crystal office"?grabs headlines, yet he is only one of a group of influential governors challenging the center. Best known is Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo, notorious for his blunt speech and strident nationalism. Just last week, Ishihara sparked a furor about Japan's hapless banking system by threatening to pull the city's deposits from troubled Mizuho Holdings...
...Ominously for mainstream parties, most of these leaders are fierce independents. "It may be rude to say it," observes Kitagawa, "but in the case of Chiba's Akiko Domoto, Nagano's Yasuo Tanaka, and myself as well, 'weirdos' became governor." Asano and Domoto both refused all party endorsements, yet won handily. Staying unattached and "weird" means freedom from the smoky backroom culture that is smothering Koizumi. Governor Asano wrote to candidate Domoto, "Please don't think of nonaffiliation as a means to gain advantage in the election. It's not a means; it's a policy...
...opposes compensating sex slaves and other victims of Japan's aggression, continues to insist that Japan fought on foreign soil to liberate its neighbors from Western colonialism. Nearly half of the LDP members in Japan's parliament routinely attend Shrine Association events or accept its donations, according to Nobunao Tanaka, author of two books critical of the far-right's influence on mainstream Japan. Jeff Kingston, author of a forthcoming book on Japanese war guilt and a history professor at Temple University in Tokyo, argues, "Diminishing Japan's war responsibility is aimed at maintaining core constituencies...
...ARRESTED. MUNEO SUZUKI, 54, influential but unpopular Japanese legislator, who for years was a Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight at the Foreign Ministry, for alleged bribery; in Tokyo. Suzuki's power struggle with Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka led to her sacking this January, which severely dented the popularity of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Officials allege Suzuki accepted a $40,000 kickback from a Hokkaido logging company. DIED. FRITZ WALTER, 81, captain of the first German football team to win the World Cup (in 1954), an achievement that helped ease Germany's pariah status following World War II; in Enkenbach-Alsenborn, Germany...