Japan’s current foreign minister, Taro Aso, is hoping to be elected Prime Minister on September 20th. Despite the fact that Aso has very little chance of beating the Shinzo Abe, Asahi Shinbun, in the spirit of fairness, has written a short profile of him (So that the Japanese people can read about one of the guys the LDP bigwigs decided not to pick). The article is mostly about how Aso claims that he is friendly with China and hopes to improve relations with Japan’s neighbors (despite the fact that his history-related comments have infuriated China and South Korea in the past). But he’s not actually going to win, so who really cares about his political views? Here’s the part of the article that is actually interesting:

For a man seeking to become prime minister, Foreign Minister Taro Aso has picked an unlikely character to admire–the protagonist in the “Golgo 13″ manga comic series.

Golgo 13 is a mysterious assassin with questionable morals who only takes assignments from honest clients.

Yet Aso, who took part in the skeet-shooting competition in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, makes no qualms about his admiration for the fictional hitman. Nor does Aso, 65, hide the fact that he reads more than 10 manga magazines a week.

What are you trying to say, left-wing Asahi Shinbun? Are you saying that Taro Aso is lame because he reads comics books? Does he love for manga stop at professional assassin comics? Could he be secretly visiting maid cafes?

[Story found via 見ないで! 恥ずかしい...]