Hidemitsu: A Former Fat Man for Japan

Hidemitsu: A Former Fat Man for Japan, originally uploaded by AdrielH.

Hidemitsu San's political ad is all over on the street-level wooden billboards that Tokyo has set up for its political wannabes and other candidates.
His basic pitch is that he personally lost weight and knows how to keep it off - the country needs that kind of determination in its leaders to continue in ship shape. The bizarre ad reminds me of another zany Japanese politician, a former wrestler who several years back campaigned in his mask. Yes.
Most of Japanese politics is much more serious, although there has been a bad spell, mostly due to the recently resigned prime minister, who consulted with Indian fortune tellers and whose wife claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Yes.
Elections are in full swing, and my wife has been approached on the streets by canvassers for a women's rights party that is looking to make a splash. The Japanese right is the enduring fringe element, driving around Tokyo in mini-buses shouting pro-Emperor slogans from bullhorns.