Bland Japanese Prime Minister Fails to Excite International Media
It its coverage of the Prime Minister’s UN speech, the Yomiuri pointed out that members of the assembly and the international media pretty much ignored Noda:
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s speeches at the United Nations were barely covered by the Western media, although the event gave Noda the chance to promote his government’s policy shift on nuclear power.
Noda’s speech made at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday came right after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ address requesting Palestine be recognized as a separate state. Many audience members left the venue after Abbas finished speaking because the issue was considered one of the conference’s main topics.
It was a tough act to follow, but you can’t really place most of the blame on the Palestine situation. If Japan had a strong and charismatic leader, more people probably would have paid attention to the speech. But, since few recent Japanese Prime Ministers have stayed in office for more than a year, few international observers are going to care about a speech from Japan’s latest uncharismatic and soon-to-be-gone PM.
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