Posts Tagged ‘ishihara’

Tokyo Gov. Ishihara: Giant Pandas Aren’t So Great

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has made the news today with some statements about Giant Pandas:

Ishihara’s outburst came following the death of Ling Ling, a 22-year-old panda that died on Wednesday at Ueno Zoo, leaving the animal park without one of the enormously popular pandas for the first time in 36 years.

And the governor’s anti-panda rhetoric also coincided neatly with the national government’s attempts to be sound out its Chinese counterpart about the chances of getting a new panda for Tokyo.

“It’s not like (pandas) are sacred or anything. Do we really need them?” the governor told reporters during a regular news conference. “Living creatures die. Pandas die. The world’s not such a big place anymore, so if people want to see pandas, they should go to where the pandas are.”

Another quote from an AP story:

Ishihara also touched on the death on Wednesday of a popular giant panda gifted by China to a Tokyo zoo and the subsequent termination of giant panda exhibits at the zoo, saying, “It’s not something everyone should cry hard about and feel sad.”

Does Ishihara dislike giant pandas? Could his opinion be influenced by the fact that a new panda would most certainly require expensive annual payments to the Chinese government?

Ishihara Wins Trial Against French

A French language school in Japan has sued Tokyo Gov. Ishihara over anti-French statements, and the results are in:

Outspoken Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and his capital government were cleared of a claim Friday filed by 91 French and Japanese citizens, who were demanding an apology and damages for his 2004 remarks that were taken by the group as insulting the French language.

At the Tokyo District Court, Presiding Judge Katsuhiko Kasai said, “What he said is not true, but it was not targeting any individual either. His remarks surely lack consideration to the feelings of people associated with the French language, but it cannot be immediately concluded that the remarks hurt their sense of honor.”

According to the ruling, Ishihara said in October 2004, while attending a meeting of a support group for Tokyo Metropolitan University, “French is disqualified as an international language because it is a language which cannot count numbers.”

Ishihara said after the ruling, “The court made a logical conclusion. People cannot sue me just because they don’t like what I say.”

The number 91 may literally be “4X20+11″ in French, but simple memorization shouldn’t make it too hard for a foreigner learner of French to remember how to count. Maybe Ishihara would have preferred the French adopt the 10,000-based numbering system used in the Japanese language (100,000= “ten ten thousands”).

Ishihara’s statements about the French language were stupid, but is it realistic for the defendant to demand millions of yen in damages?

The Island That Ishihara Built

Tokyo governor Shintaro ‘Blinkey’ Ishihara announced today that to further enhance the Japanese presence and claim to the tiny coral outcropping know as Okinotorishima, he has set aside public funds to construct a sea food restaurant on the island. “We have been flooded with so much money on account of the increase in residential tax revenues, we decided to do something really meaningful and significant with it” said an Ishihara aid.

“I think lots of Japanese people can enjoy a nice boat ride out there, spend the day, have lunch, watch the various activities that go on around there, and come home in plenty of time to have their baths in the evening” said Ishihara.

When asked about what kind of attractions the restaurant and island may provide to tourists, “Well there’s all sorts of things to do there, swim, fish, take pictures, watch the Navy boys conduct sea patrols and chase the Shina fishermen around (chuckles heartily), lots of things, you know” he said. “We will be operating a daily ferry from Tokyo to take people out and back (also at public expense) and all anyone need to do is make a reservation, easy” he added.

Preliminary plans have been drawn up by the design and construction company that Ishihara’s brother-in-law owns which gets most of the really lucrative Tokyo governmental projects that Ishihara dreams up.

The idea is to completely prefab the construction of the restaurant on Japanese shores and ship it out by container vessel and sea lift helicopters operated by the MSDF. “The structure itself will have to be able to withstand hurricane force winds and possible missile attacks from Shina militants and troublemakers” said a right wing consultant to Ishihara. “There is no telling what those people might do, so we will have to build it really really strong, no cheap imported stuff” he added.

Initially the restaurant would not be expected to turn a profit, according to Ishihara aides, but eventually it is expected to pay for itself. “We expect a lot of Chinese fishermen and their families to come to the restaurant” said another aid, “Where else can Chinese get a good meal around there? We will have places for them to tether their Junks and rafts and so on. We expect parking to become a problem eventually, but we will work out something” he said.

When asked what sort of fare the restaurant will specialize in Ishihara replied, “We of course will feature the finest fresh sea food, sashimi, served with delicious Japanese rice, all sorts of the best Japanese Sake flown in daily, I may even serve tables there after I retire.” When asked about the name of the restaurant, Ishihara replied “Well we haven’t decided on a name for it yet, but I sort of favor the name Manshu” said Ishihara.