Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Article from Mainichi Daily News (WaiWai)

PM claims five-knuckle shuffle, not wedlock, helps secure grip on power

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's legendary lewdness was on show once again at a recent formal meeting for the vice-ministers of all the national government ministries and agencies, according to Shukan Gendai (6/24).

Just about anybody with a connection to Japanese politics is well aware of the prime minister's propensity for profanity, the men's weekly says.

He got his chance to display his dirtiness during the meeting with vice-ministers after Health Vice Minister Masao Akamatsu spoke to the group about how he had spent the previous day handing out free condoms as part of an AIDS awareness campaign.

Koizumi butted in on Akamatsu's speech, pointing out the irony of the closeness between the Japanese pronunciation of condom -- kondomu -- and the phrase "kondo umu," which means to "give birth soon."

Koizumi continued with what he seems to have thought was a bit of fetus filter fun.

"You know they used to call them 'hygiene sacks?'" Shukan Gendai quotes the prime minister telling the much younger vice minister. "We used to blow them up and play with them like they were balloons."

Koizumi, the men's weekly says, then proceeded to spend about 30 minutes telling jokes about condoms while the mostly male vice-ministers sat and listened. Economy Vice Minister Akira Matsu, the only woman present at the meeting, remained silent throughout.

Once he'd finished bouncing his rubber jokes off the vice-ministers, Koizumi turned his attention to dirty diplomacy related to former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who the premier had met in the days just prior to the meeting.

"(Primakov) got married to a woman more than 20 years younger than him. He says that's what makes him so powerful," the magazine quotes bachelor Koizumi saying. "Now, in my case, my power comes from the fact that I HAVEN'T been married for more than 20 years."Political pundits say that Koizumi's crudeness is known throughout Japanese political circles. One Diet member the weekly doesn't name recalls meeting Koizumi not long after he assumed the premiership in April 2001.

"Not long after Koizumi became prime minister, he came over to me and said, 'Gee, you're lucky. You're free. Ever since I've become prime minister, all I've been able to do is this.' He was doing a gesture for masturbation. I was a little shocked. It was, after all, the prime minister doing that," the Diet member tells Shukan Gendai.

Political commentator Harumi Arima agrees.

"Koizumi has been saying that his manhood barely functions anymore and that he urgently wants to use it," Arima tells Shukan Gendai. "Koizumi is due to retire in September and there're rumors flying everywhere that he will get married soon after leaving the post, with all sorts of probing around to try and work out who his new bride will be." (By Ryann Connell)

June 15, 2006


<CC Moderator: After discussion with Original Poster, thread title changed.>

looooooool!
I didn't know Koizumi was a Pervert!

<CC Moderator: Thread title changed.>

Reopened. Please retain thread title.

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D] Koizumi wa hentai desu! [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

Man that guy cracks me up. A truly insane PM and one Japan can remember. I hope whoever replaces him isn't an ***** (though it is a strong possibility). Poor old Koizumi, having a post-mid-life crisis lol.

Lone Gunman

Man...this thread really cracks me up.[:)]

Man, PM Koizumi is my hero. We need more prime minister like him. I hope the next prime minister will be at least as colorful as PM Koizumi. [;)]

Hmmm, maybe not. Yeah I can agree with you there, PM Koizumi is a fairly calm, down-to-earth kinda guy. He really seems like someone that could get along well with the youth and really win points in that area of the electorate. Sure he might be bullied around a bit or influenced by his cabinet/other nations (such as America) but I don't think this changes his character. Most of his decisions (be they positive or negative) reflect the leadership style of most democratic leaders in most liberal nations. Except Koizumi has that extra bonus of being able to joke around when most politicians would be silent, instead now they are gasping at his comments. I think he could add life to any party, although he better watch himself, those condom jokes might offend female staff members.

Lone Gunman

He's a odd ball. Right wing on some issues yet left wing on others. I think around the Japanese political scene he is called 'lone wolf' or something to that effect because his unconventional and individual style. Deep down I think he is a nice guy, although I don't agree with his yasukuni visits.

I've always felt him to be a sincere leader and someone who isn't that right-wing or conservative. In fact he's quite moderate, about as conservative as John Howard is (for anyone who doesn't know, he's the Australian Prime Minister). On some issues, for the betterment of Japan, he must take a centralist or left-wing stance. However on others, he remains steadfastly conservative. Whether or not it is because of the influence of his right-wing cabinet and judiciary, I don't know. But he himself is quite an open-minded man and doesn't always do what many would expect. The Yasukuni visits he made may not reflect his general attitude at all, as he does not boast about them. Maybe he was just visiting in a normal capacity, but faced bullying from other right-wing Japanese politicians who probably made him sign the guestbook as the PM. Because I do not object to any Japanese, even the PM, visiting the shrine, but to do so in a politically-orientated fashion is still insulting for many people. Or at least many see it that way. See he never boasts about any right-wing, nationalistic ideas he may have simply because I don't think he's that kind of man. He doesn't have the same ideals as other cabinet members may have or Diet politicians (more notably in the LDP).

I think he's tried to be even-handed and moderate in a party which is supposed to be heavily right-wing.

Lone Gunman

I 100% agree. He's a good guy deep down although he might not be perfect as a man (I heard he was not nice to his ex-wife and some of his sons).

But Gendai, published by Kodansha, is a anti-LDP, anti-US, pro-China left-wing media. So I wouldn't believe everything they say. Some are true but some are often sickly biased.

Right.

Other special coverage of gendai...


The original poster should find article from monthly magazines, though I don't expect him to read Shokun.

Koizumi = sick man. A leader must know his place. This kind of dirty jokes are perfectly fine for a non-governmental individual but as a prime minister, there must be a set of moral and ethical etiquette to follow.

Do you suppose Bush, Hu, or Putin would be the role model for Jun-chan?

what do you mean? A big guy such as "Jun-chan" still need a role model? Can't he think for himself? He should know the appropriate conducts for a Prime Minister. duh.

Lol, how outrageous.

Koizumi is defintely one-of-a-kind.

Lacking moral and ethical etiquette, Jun-chan definitely needs a moral mentor and some education, no? Or is he beyond hope? [:D]

Have you seen how this guy eat in public, an international summit? slob

"Weirdo" is probably translated from Hen-jin(変人). Henjin does not always have a negative connotation. Sometimes including the case of Koizumi used rather positively based on the belief that innovative people are often eccentric.

Koizumi singing Elvis at Graceland was reported in many news here in the U.S., although Gendai will perhaps trash this as always...

You have no sense of humour. I think it's kind of interesting...but being so vigorously anti-Japanese, you probably can't see the lighter, more comical side of this story. The point is Koizumi is a decent man I guess, I mean he goes to the US, China and other nations and is always kind. And sometimes he likes to have a laugh, what's wrong with that? I mean yeah it might be a post-mid-life crisis or just him living it up, who knows, who cares. He's an intelligent man and certainly not an incompetent PM or politician so I think that's that. Bottom line he may have made a few mistakes, buckled under pressure and while I may not support his party, I do think that whoever replaces him won't be as nice and won't be as close to the centre or left. Koizumi is about as right-wing as John Howard, who in many cases has not been allowed to promote extreme right-wing policies simply because of what's best for the country and he knows that. We'd call that "right of centre" in most cases, but I guess not everyone in Koizumi's party is that moderate. Koizumi himself is known to have shifting policies, maybe that just reflects his nature as well.

Totally unrelated but I MUST ASK! Jipster, who's the chick in your pic?!?!?!?!?

Lone Gunman

He got a new legend



www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13988981/site/newsweek/page/4/

LOL!!!! MR KOIZUMI IS KOOOL! hahaha Dude.. that is just some funny stuff!!



Now.. i thought he is a Boring serious GUY, i was WRONG. ROFL!!

Oh come now LG; I think it's important that leaders show a human side, but discussions with such lewd sexual inneudo is taboo. A leader might joke about something in pop-culture, or something that happened to him, but that's as far as it goes. Crossing that line is a no-no.

I must admit, most of my knowledge of Australia comes from that Simpson's episode, but if you had a discussion with "me member of
parliament," you'll agree that that sort of behaviour is not acceptable. And nor is "floating naked on an inner tube with a beer". [;)]



Obviously the Queen. There's that random cross on her brassiere.