Shizuoka governor quits after disparaging comments about farmers

75 years old.

Should have stepped down years ago the self-entitled bigot.

These dinosaurs dominate Japanese political thought....no wonder it is falling off a cliff.

I wonder who wrote that weird speech for Kawakatsu, a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. How did those words end up exiting his mouth?

It’s no secret that Central Japan Railway, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition, and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism all wanted Kawakatsu ousted for his refusal to approve maglev construction in Shizuoka Prefecture. A seven-year delay was going to have a tremendous economic impact throughout Japan.

Even more embarrassing is it appears that the fool is wearing a wig.

@Fighto!

Even more embarrassing is it appears that the fool is wearing a wig.

Why would wearing a wig be embarrassing? If that’s what gives him comfort, so be it.

If someone wears a wig to help them feel more comfortable with hair loss related to cancer treatment or anything else, we don’t need judgmental people like you making them feel lesser.

He has long opposed Central Japan Railway Co's high-speed maglev train project to connect Tokyo and Osaka via northern Shizuoka Prefecture, citing concern over its environmental impact."

Governor Kawakatsu DOES NOT CARE a single iota about the environment. The section of tunnel planned under Shizuoka Pref. is too short (~8 kilometres) to build a station; but Yamanashi Pref. gets a station and so he stubbornly resisted. Portraying himself as a saviour of the environment was a 'Plus Alpha' bonus, and nothing more...

Why would wearing a wig be embarrassing? If that’s what gives him comfort, so be it.

LOL whatever

"Even more embarrassing is it appears that the fool is wearing a wig."

He could wear a dead rat on his head and it would make no difference to the environment. He is the highest paid civil servant in Shizuoka Pref. and does no actual work other than attending flower show openings...

More politically correct prosecution of speech. He apologized and what he said, if you care to listen, makes sense about needing to innovate.

He sounds like many "progressives" in the U.S.

To many of them, you can't have an opinion about anything in which you haven't gotten a Ph.D. and about which you have written peer-reviewed journal articles.

In fact, to many such folks, you can't have an opinion about anything if you didn't go to college at all.

Voice a viewpoint that a "progressive" disagrees with, and there's every good chance that he/she won't offer a direct coherent rebuttal -- but instead, will question your education level and try to use your lack thereof to silence you.

So, anyone on this comment thread who identifies as a "progressive" shouldn't be too hard on this Kawakatsu fellow.

I'm not defending what he said. Please don't get me wrong.

But if you're a "progressive" (which it seems apparent many commenters on here do), you belong to an ideological camp of people who show no less disdain for "uneducated" people than he does.

As a "progressive" with a passable education, I must be that straw man you refer to, Quo Primum, but I think of Kawakatsu as an entitled, foot-in-mouth fool.

At 75 he should be playing golf, going to onsens and looking for exceptional sushi restaurants every week.

He’s just gone out being politically incorrect and a bore to boot-no real worries.

Even more embarrassing is it appears that the fool is wearing a wig.

What? Embarrassing for you? Really now, what difference does his wig or not, have to do with the remarks he made? Unless perhaps you are speaking from experience, otherwise your comment makes no sense.

More embarrassing would be the very fact that he was unable to keep his feet out of his mouth, and putting down his constituency with idiotic remarks.

I highly doubt he or any of the staff he was talking to when he said it are in any way shape or form intelligent enough to do the work of a farmer. I'll bet he thinks that planting a chicken egg will grow nasu in return!

Voice a viewpoint that a "progressive" disagrees with, and there's every good chance that he/she won't offer a direct coherent rebuttal -- but instead, will question your education level and try to use your lack thereof to silence you.

These posters conservative chain of logic is as broken and flailing with straw-men as usual. And they wonder why their cognition is challenged?

The 75-year-old has been under fire since telling new prefectural government employees on April 1 that they are intelligent people "unlike those who sell vegetables, raise cows and make things."

Kawakatsu, the beneficiary of a kleptocratic system, disparaged people who create and actually contribute to society versus the staid bureaucracy he supports.

There is your rebuttal, which the conservative viewpoint only haves some vague criticisms about "progressives" to respond with.

He has long opposed Central Japan Railway Co's high-speed maglev train project to connect Tokyo and Osaka via northern Shizuoka Prefecture, citing concern over its environmental impact.

That being said his swift removal is highly suspicious given the far worse comments of fellow politicians.

He has long opposed Central Japan Railway Co's high-speed maglev train project to connect Tokyo and Osaka via northern Shizuoka Prefecture, citing concern over its environmental impact.

in other words, he was in the way of the biggest and second biggest cities in Japan and could not be bought off so they resorted to opposition research to make him go away.

should have just taken the money

I thought he was a beloved political figure in Shizuoka. Couldn't be anything related to his opposition to the Mag-Leg route running through the prefecture?

You want to eat, right? FARMERS!!

on the other hand, most LDP politicians don't quit despite innumerable discrimination remarks or falsehood or unjust fundraising.

Quo PrimumToday  06:13 pm JST

He sounds like many "progressives" in the U.S.

He sounds like an old-fashioned academic snob to me, but then again I don't have a fixation with laying all the world's ills at the feet of liberals and progressives.

He's even smirking as he submits his letter of resignation.

his resignation is just his retirement. not a punishment........

Right choice

TIL gubernatorial is a word.