Ishihara "Just say 'No' to Hanami"?!?

[Greji]

Damn... he's just been declared the winner

CST, I felt the same way when I saw the announcement, but in actuality, there was no doubt he was going to win from the minute he announced he was running again. This says a rather startling thing about how his message to the Tokyo voters is perceived by the voters versus our perceptions of it.

[Ganma]

Damn... he's just been declared the winner

I guess now might be a good time to flee Tokyo after all.

[Samurai_Jerk]

There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to win. When I've discussed his racist comments with Japanese people they generally seem to have no clue (either that or they secretly know and agree but don't want to let me know that they do). When I mentioned the tenbatsu comment at the office the general response was naruhodo except for one guy who defended him by saying he speaks colorfully like that because he's an author not a politician at heart.

The fact is that his feelings about foreigners or partying or the French language or Japanese greed has little or no impact on the life of the average Tokyo voter.

As an aside, one thing I've never understood about old people like him the world over is how they generally spend their lives trying to make a better life for themselves and their families so their children and grandchildren don't have to suffer through what they did. Yet when they achieve that all they do is complain about what a bunch of spoiled pussies the young generation is for not having had to suffer through the hardships their generation did.

[matsuki]

Fuck yoooooooou Blinky!!