He's a Democratic senator from Hawaii. He fought in World War II as part of a Japanese-American unit. IIRC, his family was in an internment camp during the war. He lost an arm in battle.
I always thought he was an honorable man - maybe his advanced age is catching up with him.
During the Watergate hearings, Inouye didn't believe something one of the witnesses said and muttered under his breath, "What a liar!" Someone overheard him and accused him of calling the witness a liar, but Inouye denied having said that. Then it was shown that his words had been picked up by the microphone and were on tape, so Inouye said he must have been referring to himself.