Ah, the inimitable Doctor Nakamats, famous for the way he spells his name (dropping the ‘u’ at the end, because “that’s how you say it”), famous for claiming to have invented the floppy disc and managing to convince people his tale was true, famous for a ton of inventions that actually serve no purpose (who could forget the Cerebrex, a device not unlike a 1950’s recliner combined with a Star Wars Arcade machine from the eigthies, that was designed to boost your brainpower.) He’s truly a hero in a world where everyone else has let us down. 1 part inspiration, 9 parts conman, Nakamats is probably the best choice for Tokyo governor.

He’s running again (for the fourth time) in the upcoming gubernatorial elections because he thinks -

I had not intended to run, but those who will run in the election are unable to ease the uncertainty felt by Tokyo residents. I’m the only one who meets the qualifications for Tokyo governor.

Not sure if the last part is true; I haven’t heard of the wonderful Doctor saying anything offensive about foreign folk…

Link to Mainichi article on Dr.Nakamats entering the race.
Link to Dr. Nakamats rather poorly designed website.

UPDATED: The Japan Times reports that Dr.Nakamats is promising to protect Tokyo from enemy attacks, thusly -

[He] said he planned to invent a missile shield system that can “make missiles turn around.” When asked how he planned to accomplish the feat, he replied, “I cannot give you a simple answer.”

Wowzers. Got my vote.

Another one of Shinzo Abe’s polticians has been continuing the theme whereby you have to make up a pretty clever metaphor and then use it really inappropriately in public. The baby machines debacle has pretty much settled down and Yanagizawa has kept his job - Prime Minister Abe breathes a sigh of relief…

And then this happens.

I have to admit, my first reaction was to laugh at this. Its a really neat turn of phrase -

No matter how nutritious it is, if one ate only butter every single day, one would get metabolic syndrome…Human rights are important, but if we respect them too much, Japanese society will end up having human rights metabolic syndrome.

There’s a bit of a problem when a Government minister comes out and states in public that you can have too many human rights. Every government in the world is lacking in some way in the service it provides to its citizens, and it should be out of their remit (in a democratic society at any rate) to pronounce that they can pick or choose what they give people, a sentiment that seems to have been expressed by Minister Ibuki’s comment.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Governments do, there’s no getting around it. They make the laws, we follow them to the best of our ability. In most places, you only have the rights they give you.

Ibuki certainly shouldn’t have come out and made another of the Abe administration’s corking metaphors - because he’s got nothing to worry about.

And that there’s the part of the story everyone should be up in arms about.

A quirky unix/linux homepage - link. (Via Digg)

For those not in the know, Shinzo Abe is the man most likely to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as leader of the LDP. Which means he is most likely to become the prime minister of Japan. Japan’s foreign minister, Taro Aso, is also in the race. He’s a sneering little troll who looks about as trustworthy as the one the Billy Goats Gruff met on their travels -

And he doesn’t have a geeky homepage.

Abe’s going to be the superuser. Oh yes. Although this may or not be a good thing. Time will tell.