Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Sadly, wingnuttery has never been exclusively an American trait.
It travels between the continents like trade winds.*
Case in point, the Japanese man who mailed his severed finger to the offices of the ruling right-wing Liberal Democratic Party in protest of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s refusal to visit Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender, which marked the end of World War II.
Yoshihiro Tanjo, a 54-year-old member of an ultra-right-wing group in Okayama, western Japan, was arrested on charges of threatening Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party, a prefectural police spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. He said no other details could be immediately released.
Kyodo News agency said Tanjo mailed his severed left pinky finger, a DVD showing the finger being chopped, and a protest statement to the LDP headquarters on Aug. 16, the day after the anniversary of the war’s end.
I for one, hope that Abe will not be intimidated by this thug, and will continue to avoid the controversial shrine. Though that would be expecting a lot from someone who had the JGSDF spy on anti-war groups.
* The title and first line were adapted from a line in the Babylon 5 TV movie “In the Beginning,” which is about the Earth-Minbari War.
