Censure motion against Hashimoto voted down

Good.

Why would an attorney of all people use as a justification, other people did it? Just stupid. He isn't an attorney I would want, unless I wanted an attorney to say something stupid and with a straight face.

Just admit it was wrong, point our what Japan did to apologize and compensate the victims, and if Japan feels something else needs to be done, be the best at helping to stop human trafficking by working with the UN. Not that I particularly like the UN, but it is a good measure against other countries and a measure that Japan could exceed other countries. And, it is a good cause.

Make the world focus on the current human trafficking problems rather than Japan's past, which unfortunately is history and (should be) unchangeable.

By the way, has anyone else been censured recently in Japan? It is the first time I have heard about it happening here.

His plain-speaking iconoclasm and ability to brazenly ride out controversy won him admirers enough to be mentioned at one time as a possible future prime minister.

How many times have I heard this semi-compliment about a Japanese politician when in reality they enjoy a toothless, tamed press corps, and an apathetic public.

Hope he resigns. I think he will be suprised if he thinks he will get reelected smoothly.

"He suggests Tokyo apologize" They have done that a few times but thanks to you you've undone any worthiness of the previous apologies.

Does this guy have any control of what comes out of his mouth ? Most people tend to think about what they are going to say kinda like self censorship ....he's on wide open throttle going nowhere fast.

Fire him !

Censure? I reckon he should be nominated for the first human to receive a de-barking operation!

@Ninjazilla don't compare Japanese voters to western voters, i wouldn't be surprised if he would be re-elected again.

If Hashimoto had not contended that the comfort women were NOT coerced by the Japanese government, then he should have bowed, laid a wreath, and apologized -- admitting that their ancestors where deliberate, systematic mass rapists -- at the newly built Comfort Women memorial in New York, created last year and "honored" by the New York assembly on the 7th of this month. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/nyregion/monument-in-palisades-park-nj-irritates-japanese-officials.html?_r=0

From a New York stand point there are, I believe, no two ways around this. Either you man up and apologize (profusely under the circumstances) or you express moral at the unjust accusation (and you had better be right).

What did the local politicians want him to do? Just keep his mouth shut and head in the sand? That sucks worse that what he did.

Yes!!!! Bring it on! Censure him, force him to step down or better yet, have an election and watch his lose - god willing the people are smart enough! Heck, the teachers vote alone might get him out of office! Add in the moms without daycare, those with tats and the Korean Japanese....

If he`s forced out and gets in again by reelection, I will be convinced that there is something definately wrong with this place.

The people of Osaka are letting Hashimoto know what's up and to them I give a HUGE thumbs up. I also agree that he should be having a harder time getting reelected with all the crap standing against him.

I can just see it now though. If the censure motion passes he resigns, the election will piggy-back on the diet elections scheduled for July I bet, and it will give him a bigger platform than just the local election would.

It could also (hopefully) be his downfall as well, for all the obvious reasons.

His plain-speaking iconoclasm and ability to brazenly ride out controversy won him admirers enough to be mentioned at one time as a possible future prime minister

Yeah, right.

I didn't like this guy when he gave the teachers a hard time about tattoos. What they do in their own time is their own business. If it doesn't show, why conduct a witch hunt?

Getting back to the subject on hand - I'm glad he is facing concrete measures to shut his trap. Japan doesn't need the bad press this guy attracts.

Cripes almighty! Enough already! Damn you pig-headed Moderators here! I know, dont like it dont post. But you are seriously flucking up all sorts of threads today with your assine censorship. Ya'll are seriously fapping the hell off here of late and screwing things up.

Pot Kettle Black....Pot Kettle Black.....

I hope that the people of Osaka know that Hashimoto is one of the few politicians that is prepared to come out and state, in front of the cameras and the worlds press that no, he does not believe their grandfathers were deliberate, systematic, mass rapists.

I hope that they also know that yes, this is what the world thinks of them, their ancestors, their culture. I hope that they know the US Senate, the European Parliament, and the City of New York have all recently passed legislation arraigning them of this abhorrent crime. And above all I hope that they read and research the issue to find out whether it is true.

And should the people of Osaka come to the conclusion that these accusations are not true, I hope they vote Hashimoto back into power, and into more power, as one of the very few politicians that were able to stand up for the truth (if such be the truth) regarding their recent past.

Perhaps Hashimoto should be using JT as a censors. It's obvious freedom of speech isn't allowed on here. This weeks deleted posts actually boggle my mind. What is the criteria they go on ?

The re-elections will show the true spirit of Japan if the majority of people vote him back in, it will also show what percentage of people stand behind him displaying who supports his agenda of destroying Japan's image to the world and truly whether Japan is apologetic of its history with comfort women.

"Daini Tokyo Bar Association affiliation (Tokyo Kyodo law firm affiliation), the Japan Federation of Bar Associations previous Secretary-General," which accused him, is the same as the group pointed out that the issue of comfort women.

This just goes to show that important. They are, is the group of communist.

You can direct a series of incidents, they are trying to divide the friendship of Japan and the United States.

Kudos to the people for finally doing something. It's non-binding, of course, but it's a baby-step in the right direction. As for this clown Hashimoto, why am I not surprised he may "resign to be re-elected"? The saddest part is that he WOULD likely be re-elected.

the media is really squeezing as much as it can get out of this story .

I'd like to see his original words in Japanese if anyone can provide them.

＞You can direct a series of incidents, they are trying to divide the friendship of Japan and the United States.

I thought Hashimoto has done that job already.

Goodbye you moron

" However, some commentators suggest the backlash this time over his “comfort women” comments may have struck a serious blow to his reputation. "

That backlash has??? I thought his moronic comments had struck a blow to his reputation. So without the backlash, his comments would have been OK? Is the writer serious?

It's time for him to leave his baito in Osaka city so he can work full time at his job as an entertainer, if he still has an audience.

And should the people of Osaka come to the conclusion that these accusations

Why would we have to conclude anything ? Hashimoto himself has explained that while one was a civil servant, he/she had to have a flawless public life in order to maintain the reputation of the entity he/she served. He has to apply it himself. While he is a mayor, he has to stay away from any controversial debate that doesn't concern Osaka. We don't want to be known as the city of the Comfort Woman revisionist debate, etc. That has nothing to do with the mandate he was elected for.

the media is really squeezing as much as it can get out of this story .

Not at all. It's Hash' himself that has made it a big story and bombed the media with his declaration. He has done a dozen of interviews, including live a TV show, a press conference and he has repeated it on twitter like 50 times. I'm not even sure I have seen everything as that has been one (truckload of verbal sh... that he dumped ) everyday for 2 weeks.

I'd like to see his original words in Japanese if anyone can provide them.

Some famous words here :

http://exdroid.jp/d/56672/

Good on them. About time someone had the balls ehr, courage to stand to this guy.

sack him ASAP before he ruined japan.

where do i sign?

He made the mistake of thinking that he could say and do absolutely anything he wanted without consequence.

Well it looks like he won't be facing censure motion because Komeito opposed it.

timtak | ... their grandfathers were deliberate, systematic, mass rapists ...

This is escalation on your part hoping to derail the issue at hand. The issue is whether the military directly managed sexual slavery.

Despite being pained listening to Hashimoto illogical and changing positions, I would like to thank him for bringing up the issue of abuse of women during the occupation. The reporting of sexual crimes by Americans was censored, now is a good time to un-censor it and apologize. It would be a great help to all war abused women in the world if Congress would include an apology in their censure bill. It would be much harder to create and pass such a bill, but it is no surprise that good results require hard work and some self reflection.

Only evidence that proves that women were coerced is "comfort women"'s 　testimonies

Nobody at here cannot also give an evidence that is not an testimonies by "comfort women".

And there testimonies are often contradicting...

To those who criticize Mr. Hashimoto

Before you criticize, you will need to make sure what he claimed correctly.

http://agasatea.seesaa.net/article/364184158.html

Because the exact opposite claim was advertised intentionally, conference the other day, I opened the conference again.

He does not speak comfort women is required.

He does not speak comfort women is required.

He said he thought they were important.

従軍慰安婦問題に関し「戦争当時は必要だった」

Hashimoto has proved a colorful, if divisive, figure in Japan’s somewhat monochrome political world since he emerged as a force on the local, then national scene.

Colorful??? He is just black among the grayish political world.

There is a military that rely on comfort women in 1945.

It is the U.S. military and the Japanese army.

The American soldiers opponent, Japanese women worked as comfort women. Tokyo 1945.

At the time, this system. This is unfortunate history.

Mr. Hashimoto was pointed out, is that comfort women that were available at that time.

This arrogant man should really really be careful what is saying!!!!!

Yes, as Thomas Anderson says, it looks like we can probably blame the party - the Komeito - that enables the LDP for blocking this censure.

I am disappointed. The censure motion was rejected by the Komeito. The Komeito is the ruling party with the Liberal Democratic Party.

Bottom line: if the local politicians are raising a censure motion, it means that the meaning of his words where not that distorted by difficult translation or taken out of context. In other terms, it confirm Hashimoto's objective has clearly been to aggress people to create a buzz at best or to reflect his right-wing mindset at worse.

The Komeito opposes the censure motion, so it will not pass. Hashimoto will stay as mayor. The reason Komeito did this is that the LDP, their coallition partner, is sure to win if Hashimoto is the mayor. Anyone else and it is not a sure bet.

NHK has just reported that the censure motion has FAILED. What a shame.

Sorry, I meant to say that the LDP is sure to win the next election if Hashimoto is mayor. (why doesn't JT have editing function)

Wow the JP government is scared of this fool.

Mr. Hashimoto was pointed out, is that comfort women that were available at that time.

Again, he said he thought they were important.

従軍慰安婦問題に関し「戦争当時は必要だった」

{The non-binding motion had earlier been expected to be approved. But the New Komeito Party, which holds the balance of power on the council, reversed its earlier stance and voted against it.)))

....................'

He is not gone.

Pretty soon, national election will be conducted.

Looks like he will be continuing his big mouth until next Osaka Mayoral election.

So when I unleash my regional (freedom) occupation, it's ok to calm my disciplined highly trained troops with a convenient RAPE shop. This news has surged me on, I was worried about my highly trained troops attacking the locals dodging bullets and all. But now it's OK because they can rape a forign girl that is paid by a Government department, and this practice will enhance the rape and (this is good) rape of civilians that are available. After all they are not Japanese, some might be but, shogani close your eyes, the boss said it's Ok. The best bit is you can kill them after with impurity. How good is that!

Ohhhh, shoot! Kick this boy out of office...

New Komeito supported him? What is the reward in heaven for such an act? Rebirth as a.....?

Odaku tissue?

The non-binding motion had earlier been expected to be approved. But the New Komeito Party, which holds the balance of power on the council, reversed its earlier stance and voted against it.)))

People you have to stop and think here. The Komeito did the right thing. As much as Hashimoto is a pain in the butt it would have been worse for not only Osaka but the country as a whole to give Hashimoto a dual soap box to stand on.

If the resolution had passed, he would have resigned, and as I pointed out earlier, purely a guess, but backed up by the pundits on TV earlier, he would have had the election for Mayor scheduled for the same day as the upper house elections and his pulpit would have been a lot larger, and on a national scale.

I doubt it... Hashimoto is done. I'm not sure why Komeito opposed it.

Completely disgusted and insensitive man of zero value....... he is only sensitive of his own 'necessity' ..... if he still has honours and self-respect, he should resign gracefully...... arrogant and idiotic

I stand with Yubaru. Making him a martyr may have made him even more powerful, while giving him more credit than he deserves. Letting his political career dying from its own is most likely the best approach with such a disproportionated and volatile ego.

Who know? One day Hashimoto will say something that's so outrageous, it will be like throwing a hornet's nest onto a bonfire. Then he'll have no other choice but to step down.

So, they voted against censuring this clown. This gives a clear picture of the other clowns that are running this country. I wouldn't let any of them run an elevator, better less a country. Japan is run by right-wing fogies that have no new ideas of how to make Japan evolve into the new millennium. Instead, it is run by a bunch of nationalistic idiots that are determined to clutch onto ideals of old and return Japan to its imperialistic past, even though Japan nor the world is the same. Would somebody please tell these fogies, "The past is over!"

@ Cricky: Komeito people are usually Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists. They tend to straighten out people who somehow get ostrqacized by other people since Mr. Josei Toda promoted Nchiren's philosophy in Japan.

Shame on komeito, if he was forced to resign & then got re-elected it would leave no doubt as to how Japan sees WWII etc, I would hope he'd lose bigtime but not sure that'd happen

This shows that poliicians are politicians. its not only about what he said. its about osaka elections. The only person I like in the cabinet isShinzo Abe

I think the right thing was done here. Politically, Hashimoto has bloodied his nose so much that Osaka City will have a hard time attracting top tier foreign social investments under his lead. Think of sporting events and conferences. No senator in North America, Europe, or Asia will want to be seen with him. His party has been labeled as boarder line ultra-nationalist. He can remain the mayor of Osaka for now, besides that a seat next to Ishihara will be the most he will be able to achieve for a long time.

Everyone knows that legalized prostitution decreases rape. He apologized but didn't mean it and the miltary acted outraged but didn't mean it, it was all for political correctness.

Toru, you really need to stick to your mayor's duties in Osaka and not pretend to be another Diet politician with global agenda. Clean up your city first and then move on.

@JanesBlonde....

Seems like attitudes in the West towards Japan and Asia have not changed in over 100 years.

So what do you suggest? Everyone should stay silent? So no one has a right or duty to say anything when someone like Hashimoto gets up and makes ignorant remarks that damage relations between countries?

You seem to have blinders on, it isn't the "west" that's making the bigger stink here it's countries in the "east." If you had been paying attention you would have noticed that the biggest complaints are coming from China and Korea. But let's not let the facts stand in the way of your own bias.

Every country has a responsibility to say or do something when crap happens. Why do you give the "east" a free pass from your diatribe?

@Disillusioned....

This gives a clear picture of the other clowns that are running this country.

This was not the country, it was only in Osaka. Japanese politicians by nature are conservatives, liberals don't do well here.

I'm in total shock. How this guy is managing to stick around is beyond me.

"New Komeito submitted a resolution calling on Hashimoto to reflect on his comments and act more responsibly in future."

Hah! Fat chance!

I'm in total shock. How this guy is managing to stick around is beyond me.

It's not that hard to understand really, there are quite a few people in this country that see nothing wrong with what he is saying and they are the one's who have the power to vote.

The problem is not with what he said to many, it's the fact that it blew up in his face, and embarrassed a lot of people, particularly in his party.

Now, Osaka council members can concentrate to work on Hashimoto proposed plans for Osaka. Maybe it may be able to make Osaka to be very attractive to foreign tourists again?

timtak | | ... their grandfathers were deliberate, systematic, mass rapists ...

CraigHicks | | This is escalation on your part hoping to derail the issue at hand. The issue is whether the military directly managed sexual slavery.

It seems to me that "millitary directly managed sexual slavery" is when forced and especially unpaid (as it often was) a euphamism, as was comfort women, for deliberate, systematic, mass rape.