Ozawa, suffering from kidney stones, will be in hospital for a week

Being held accountable for your actions can be painful sometimes...

I think AFP used "hip" because they're not allowed to say he has a pain in the a$$.

He beat me to it. I assumed yesterday he would wait till a guilty verdict before he pulled the old "go to the hospital to garner some sympathy" act.

Being held accountable for your actions can be painful sometimes

...or suffering the slings and arrows of one's critics' relentless attacks

I'm sure I'm not alone in offering Ozawa a speedy recovery!

he is finally a pain in the a$$ to himself. dont do the crime if you cant even do the trail.

Heal, recover, bounce back mr. Ozawa !

Yup, par for the course. They always run away to hospital.

Prisons have hospitals, right? Perhaps he could make use of their facilities?

Yappari! Looks like Burakumin won his bet! That is, if he could find anyone willing to take him up on it!

he is stressed

he is stressed

overstressed.

Just like all the other old geezers! Call an ambulance as a taxi to the hospital when you could walk on your own!

Whoops! I meant Hoserfella, not Burakumin! Good call, Hoserfella!

Hip is Japlish for arse, isn't it? So having chided the judge for his temerity in asking questions, he's now calling the process a pain in the arse?

It's not easy to think of a clearer case of contempt of court. String him up!

Do I know my scumbag Japanese politicians, or do I know my scumbag Japanese polititians? And no, no one took me up on my bet..

What a loser.

And no, no one took me up on my bet..

It was a suckers bet. You had it in the bag from the start!

Is it his hip or his ass that hurts??

It's called 腰痛　(yo u tsu u) in Japanese. It's lumbago, a painful condition of the lower back. An ambulance should be called only in an "emergency". Was this an emergency? The SP's (security police) who guard him could have taken him to the hospital. Regardless, he is a pain in the ass.

Maybe nature is doing what the law and country continually fail to do, kick this evil old skimmer in the behind!

“an abuse of state power”.

Ozawa you have been abusing your position for years you low life.

and the pain in the hip could well be his sciatic nerve, possibly bought on as a nervous reaction to the thought of going to trial and possibly being found guilty. Suffer Ozawa and suffer very much !

Make him Prime Minister for a day...only a day. He wants to be in the history books, and that would be so funny.

loser loser loser loser

Yappari! Looks like Burakumin won his bet! That is, if he could find anyone willing to take him up on it!

@ Serrano - ha ha! Actually I declined the beer bet - Hoserfella called it yesterday that this would happen...and 12 odd hours later it did! Too predictable - but this is what Japanese pollies and business leaders do, ne?!

Quite honestly this guy gives me a pain in the axxx, and he complains of a pain in the hip

He snapped at reporters who asked him if he was considering giving up his Diet seat and whether he thought he should testify in the Diet.

I thought he was for the people? This guy is just a idiot, he thinks he rules Japan from his bank roll (that he isn't paying tax on)

In my experience, nearly all Japanese people think the 'hip' is in the rear of the body. It is not. It is at the side(s). So is this a mistranslation? By the way, very glad to hear that he was conscious and not in a serious condition. (!) Back to the trial though. Given that we know almost all Japanese court cases yield a guilty verdict based on bogus forced confessions instead of any actual evidence, do we know for sure that was not the case with his assistants? Would the police/prosecutors/judges change the habits of a lifetime? Seems unlikely. Of course this case has yet to pan out, but despite Ozawa being one of the most unappealing people in Japan, should he not be given a fair trial? If such a thing is possible in Japan.

That is an awfully convenient hip pain!

Ozawa’s supporters say he has been unfairly targeted by opponents of his drive to weaken the overwhelming influence of bureaucrats in Japanese decision-making and bring politics back to the people.

And there it is folks! That one paragraph sums up Japanese politics extremely well. The country is run by wealthy bureaucrats with no idea of how to or intention of running the country. It is just a power game for themselves, hence Japan having 16 PMs in 15 years and the degrading economy and society can be directly linked to that time frame. For my money, Koizumi was the only 'real' PM Japan has had in the last 50 years.

Ozawa is just another rich Jiji out for personal gain and notoriety. Now, he has pulled the good old Japanese 'sympathy ploy'.

Liar! we don't believe you!

Ozawa's supporters say he has been unfairly targeted by opponents of his drive to weaken the overwhelming influence of bureaucrats in Japanese decision-making

This drive doesn't include his own overwhelming bureaucratic influence apparently.

and bring politics back to the people

And bring politics back to his pocket more like.

But fear not, he won't have suffered any lasting pain in his ample posterior - it's far too well protected by Yukio Hatoyama's tongue being wedged firmly up there all the time.

he is stressed

he is stressing me out.

Don't know if this guy is guilty, but a real politician must not care about other peoples opinion. Japanese politician, they care too much... its ridiculous.

That's what I keep saying . Those little seats in the snacks are dangerous. You sit down, and the lady plops down next to you, and "wham!", right against your hip. Every time!

When I saw this news flashing at the top of my TV screen late last night, I thought it was another one of those too-good-to-be-true moments, like when Shinsuke Shimada retired. Doesn't sound too serious though, and he'll probably be back at work and we'll have to see his face on TV again :(

He must have ureter stones. At least that's what he told Koshiishi Azuma, the secretary‐general of the DSP.

At the age of 49, 20 years ago, he was in hospital with heart disease. How is this relevant?

Maria: "How is this relevant?"

It's meant as a parable: 'Crime doesn't pay and makes you ill!'

Seriously, though, now it's his lower back? This morning it was his hip... Does he have a foggy memory about which part is supposed to hurt?

He is only acting! ぐちmaybe.

Kidney Stones? Here's hoping he passes one the size of a basketball..

Wow, just like Kanemaru 15 years ago. He is using the playbook nicely.

Lemme guess... those stones take as long time as his trial?

stones in kindneys...now people may attribute it to Ozawa's deep involvement in concrete business :)

more useless news about old politicians who care nothing about the welfare of the people of japan, and are in politics for the sole purpose of lining thier already fat pockets with the people's money.

same problems the world over. politicians, bankers, responsible for the making miserable the lives of the very people who entrust them with their country and their money. hopefully, as we have seen in the middle east, as well as recently in europe and even more recently, in the US, people in japan will awaken and move to take their country back from the hands of the greedy and back into their own control, for the betterment of the regular people, the 99% of people.

At the age of 49, 20 years ago, he was in hospital with heart disease. How is this relevant?

...is to create an image...that Ozawa is not physically fit to lead the country.

That's the result of Asahi Dry ! Real politicians should always drink real beer !

It's a mystery for how came they haven't built or assigned a special hospital for Japanese politicians and execs with luxury services to come and go in and out at heir will. They could be together in one heap, could entertain each others or could have fun.

I even have a good suggestion for name; " hospital without doctors" . Namely, that's what they need the least.

bogvaOct. 07, 2011 - 03:18PM JST

Good one!!!

Ozawa, you coward!

unscrupulous, arrogant, a liar!

I'm sorry, but I've never seen a politician as useless as this guy. junichiro koizumi,shinzo abe,these Japanese true,they carry within themselves the true bushido samurai spirit.

Will he be paying his own bills, or will we? The shameless parasite.

Kidney stones are painful. Quite painful.

Is Ozawa staying in a 4-person room? Those can be quite noisy, depending on your roommates, I had to ask the nurse for some sleep drugs so I could sleep during the night with all the coughing, snoring, etc.

The timing is impeccable. He is really sick.

Must have been sitting on his Wallet!!!!!!

feeling unwell ??? How about the poor people, poor families who were once middle class, the college graduate who can't get a job.

I guess they feel unwell too

greasy greasy chinese food

Oshii dayo !!!!!

did somebody put some extra sauce and seasoning in his chinese tabemono ???? wink wink

Ozawa, Kan, Hatoyama,okada,among others loopy Democratic Party is the result of a society disillusioned with the political,is a shame that the lunatics are doing with Japan.

Dear Mr Ozawa, wishing you a rapid recovery in good time to continue with your trial

Well, unlike Bart Simpson, at least it was not his ovaries!

isn't kidney stones just 1 day at the hospital, theres probably a hospital at the prison

eww gross... do we really need to know that the Samurai Shogun passed a stone?

The day the trial starts, after he does his press conference he has dinner goes home and calls and ambulance ...very slick work. Reads like a Sopranos episode. Em, why isn't this story in the crime section?

Somebody check him for a "Cerebral" stone!

Ozawa is a scum bag, can they cure him of this too??

I think AFP used "hip" because they're not allowed to say he has a pain in the a$.

'is'