Posted on 11/09/2009 2:54:28 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
The SDPJ boss hasnt always been so chummy with the DPJ. She once said, The LDP and the DPJ are only as different as curry rice and rice curry. Now that shes part of the government headed by the latter, it would seem that she has developed a more discriminating palate.
She and husband Kaido Yuichi are both attorneys. Ms. Fukushima has focused on radical feminist causes, and shes written three books on sexual harassment and domestic violence. Shes also written another called Konna Otoko to ha Zettai Kekkon Suru na! (Under No Circumstances Marry a Man of This Type!). She and her husband have frequently associated with people linked to the Chukaku-ha, or Japan Revolutionary Communist League, and defended them in court trials.
They must have had plenty of work. From the late 60s to the early 90s, Chukaku-ha led or was involved in numerous open battles with police, sabotaged the railroad in 33 Tokyo and Osaka locations when it being privatized, attacked LDP headquarters with a flamethrower mounted on a truck, conducted fatal arson and bombing attacks, and fought bloody battles with two other groups on the ultra-left, resulting in an estimated 100 fatalities. Their slogan is Workers of the world unite under the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-Stalinism! That presumably means they were down with K. Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Mao.
In May 1991, Chukaku-ha changed course and decided to focus its efforts within trade unions and mainstream left-wing movements. One of those efforts was a petition drive to prevent Japans use of military force in the event of a foreign invasion. Ms. Fukushima signed it.
Registered as an attorney in 1987, Ms. Fukushima first won election to the Diet in 1998, though it is only a proportional representation seat in the upper house. She is one of the few party leaders in Japanese postwar history who have been unable to win a Diet seat in a direct election, or unwilling to try.
Lets have Madame Chairman speak for herself. Heres a brief transcript from her 2005 appearance on the TV show Asa Made (Until Morning), being interviewed by Tahara Soichiro.
Fukushima: I am absolutely opposed to the use of sidearms by police officers. For one thing, even perpetrators of crimes have their rights. The police must not be allowed to injure criminals at all. Even if it is a brutal criminal with a lethal weapon, the police should approach the arrest unarmed.
Tahara: And what happens if a police officer does that and is killed?
Fukushima: Well, thats the job of police officers (Shocked sound from the people in the studio. Showing irritation at the response, she continues) Besides, if a criminal puts up that much resistance, theres no need to go to all that trouble to arrest him. Theres no problem with letting him escape.
Tahara: But what if the criminal who runs away kills someone else at a different location?
Fukushima: Thats a separate problem
Heres an excerpt from a recent Diet debate about the possible interception of an incoming North Korean missile.
Fukushima: If the intercepting missile hits the target, debris will fall. If it misses, it will fly outside the country. Can you say there wont be any harm caused to the citizens either in Japan or in other countries?
(Then) Foreign Minister Nakasone Hirofumi: If it presents a danger of damage to the lives and property of our people, that missile should be intercepted as a matter of course.
(Then) Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu: But there would be more damage if the missile would be allowed to fall. If its intercepted in space, most of the debris would burn up and not fall to earth. Its important to destroy the missile first and minimize (its potential for harm).
Fukushima: If we miss, it will harm the national interest, and if we hit it, what happens if it turns out to have been just a satellite?
There was laughter at this remark from opposition benches for some reason, but then weve already found out about the sense of humor of the Japanese left.
The DPJ thought she would make a dandy Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Social Affairs, and Gender Equality in the new coalition government, and so appointed her to that position.
Currently the SDPJs head of Diet strategy, Tsujimoto Kiyomi came up with the idea for taking cruises on a Peace Boat to the countries that Japan invaded during the war when she was a Waseda undergraduate in 1983. Its not easy for a spunky coed to organize a project on that scale, regardless of her commitment or idealism, so she needed some help.
She received that help from Kitakawa Akira, who later became what is described as her common-law husband, and Oda Makoto.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and intelligence service archives became available, it was discovered that Mr. Oda had been a KGB agent. Mr. Kitakawa was a member of the Japanese Red Army, a revolutionary terrorist group formed in 1971 that was responsible for bombings, airplane hijackings, and armed attacks throughout the world. One member was caught with explosives on the New Jersey Turnpike in the 1980s and spent time in an American jail. Several members were granted asylum in North Korea, and the Japanese government is trying to extradite them. It remains an obstacle to the normalization of relations.
Though vicious, the groups membership was always small, and they immediately had problems finding the money to survive. It was provided by Palestinians starting in 1972.
The Peace Boat, meanwhile, expanded the range of its voyages and visited the Middle East. Cruise members met several times with Yasser Arafat, perhaps to thank him for his money and ask for more. It was eventually awarded Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. That is an honor they share with Pat Robertsons American Center for Law and Justice (he speaks in tongues on television), the Brazilian Federation of LGBT Groups (Associação Brasileira de Gays, Lésbicas e Transgêneros, ABGLT), the Advisory Commission of the Evangelical Church in Germany, The American Civil Liberties Union, The Association for the Advancement of Psychological Understanding of Human Nature, The Centre for Women the Earth the Divine, The Italian Confederation of Labour, Conscience and Peace Tax International, Fraternite Notre Dame, Inc., and the International Academy of Architecture. That would suggest the designation is as easy to obtain as a package of free tissues outside any large train station in Japan.
Mr. Kitakawa was responsible for JRA activities in Europe, and he was eventually deported from Sweden. Back in Japan, he founded the Daisansha publishing company, which has released six of Ms. Tsujimotos books.
She was recruited by former Socialist Party leader Doi Takako to run for the Diet, and she won her first election in 1996. A few years later, Shigenobu Fusako, the founder of the Japanese Red Army was arrested in Takatsuki, Osaka, Ms. Tsujimotos home district. She was in the company of Yoshida Mamoru, a member of Tsujimotos staff in Takatsuki.
As an MP, she started receiving national exposure in the early years of the Koizumi Administration with her semi-hysterical challenges of the prime minister during question time. She does have spunk, however, and it was great television, so a star was quickly born.
It just as quickly faded after her success went to her head and she accused the aforementioned Suzuki Muneo during his questioning in the Diet of being a trading house for suspicion. Mr. Suzuki, semi-hysterical himself, blew up in a memorable rant.
Those of you who enjoy interesting coincidences will be delighted to know that not long afterwards, investigators just happened to discover that she had been raking off funds from the money that was supposed to be paid to her political aides. It was suspected that she gave some of the money to Mr. Kitakawa. She was sentenced to two years in jail with a five-year stay of execution.
Ms. Tsujimoto resigned her Diet seat, but Japanese voters can be a forgiving lot, and shes back, though keeping a much lower profile.
Again, lets let the lady speak for herself. Heres one:
Its not possible that the peace-loving North Koreans would abduct anyone.
Golly, where have we heard that before?
She has a strange conception of loyalty for a Diet member:
I dont want to be a Japanese. I want to be an international person.
Perhaps I should have spelled that internationale.
Indeed, she has been so internationale in general, and pro-North Korean in particular, that some Japanese have wondered if she is a naturalized Korean with family roots in the northern part of the peninsula.
Heres how she views her duties as a national legislator. She was speaking informally to a person she didnt realize was a reporter:
They say a Diet member should protect the lives and property of the citizens, but that is not my intention. My role is as a national destroyer MP who will try somehow to destroy the framework of the state.
Theres a bit lost in the translation, as Ms. Tsujimoto is making a pun. The word for Diet member is 国会議員 (kokkai gi-in). She replaced the first two characters with the homonym 国壊 (kokkai), which means national destruction.
She also has a unique sense of fun. During a feminist conference sponsored by the owner of a shop for sex toys, the amusingly named Love Piece Club, she autographed a large purple vibrator for an auction.
Now nobody objects to the ways people choose to get their kicks, but one would expect a Diet member to show some discretion at a public event.
Sidebar
The Love Piece Club has a website. One of the pages is here, which displays the nude snapshots a photographer took of the Buy Vibe Girls at the Yasukuni Shinto shrine bright and early one morning. Ordinarily, its standard Internet practice to warn of photos that arent work safe, but any work supervisor who caught you looking at these is more likely to feel sorry for you than angry at you.
The title of the page, by the way, is Nobody Knows Im Lesbian. Come on, Mina, who are you trying to kid? All anyone has to do is look at your picture.
Now, former combatants and ex-cons Tsujimoto Kiyomi and Suzuki Muneo are part of the ruling coalition, proving beyond doubt that politics makes for the strangest of bedfellows.
One wonders which one brought the large purple vibrator.
Ms. Tsujimoto, a politician convicted of skimming public funds, who pals around with terrorists, who would rather be known as the national destroyer than a Japanese, and who has vowed to wreck the framework of the state, was appointed by the ruling DPJ to serve as Vice-Minister for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. That ministry is responsible for the national infrastructure and dealing with disasters.
Heres the best part: No one in her party likes the idea at all. Ms. Tsujimotos own initial reaction was:
やだ、やだ、やだ、やだ!
Thats what a four-year old throwing a tantrum might say when told to take some unpleasant medicineNo, no, no, no!
She gave in after being told that party head Fukushima Mizuho signed off on it. But then Ms. Fukushima claimed she didnt sign off on it. But then she admitted that she did.
With Ms. Fukushima occupied by her make-work duties in the Cabinet, Ms. Tsujimoto was being counted on by the party to be the face of their campaign in next years upper house election. Those with a Machiavellian turn of mind might wonder if the DPJ purposely wanted to give her some make-work duties of her own in the bureaucracy. That would prevent her from being the poster girl of the SDPJ campaign, making it easier for the DPJ to take them out in the election and form a government without their help.
Its a wrap!
I have nothing but the deepest sympathy for those Japanese who were so fed up with LDP rule that they felt compelled to vote for the DPJ and its coalition of too many cooks, too many crooks, and too many kooks in the hope they would receive clean government, real reform, and responsible political behavior.
If were lucky, perhaps theyll manage to achieve some of their promised reforms during their administration, particularly shutting off the entry of bureaucrats into public sector jobs. They might yet reinsert the jackhammer into the foundation of the structure of interests that holds the country back. Maybe their conduct will spur the rejuvenation of a sharp opposition party, regardless of label, whose members will be decisive enough to ditch the mudboaters before refloating their political ship.
Supposedly the immortal words of Tsujimoto Kiyomi. LOL.
Ping!
I bet she has chipped teeth also.
They are all cut from the same frikkin cloth.
Maybe there is a deserted island down in the South Pacific where all these libs could be collected from our three countries, and sent down there, and kept their to stay, where they can form their own People's Socialist Federation of Peace, Good Vibes and Teddy Bears. Of course I am not going so far as to suggest it should be used for nuclear testing afterwards, aka Bikini Atoll. Just sayin'.
A lot of my Japanese friends are starting to get that numb hit-in-the-face-with-a-sledgehammer look.
One girl I know said to me straight out... “I really understand what you were saying about Obama now.”
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