"Divine punishment" Tokyo governor re-elected to fourth term

[somone]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110410x1.html
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20110410pb.html

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara was returned Sunday for a fourth four-year term... Ishihara, 78, faced contenders including former Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru and Miki Watanabe, founder of a major pub chain, and Akira Koike, chief policymaker of the Japanese Communist Party...

Ishihara's popularity, if that's what you want to call it, is based on his imperious, contrary temperament. Voters want a strong leader and see in that mischievous smile and the occasional eruption of sour candor the marks of leadership. Whatever else he is, Ishihara is his own man, which is why he no longer needs a political party to support him...

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On March 14 Ishihara said: "Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism. We need to use the tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has attached itself like rust to the mentality of the Japanese people over a long period of time." He went on to describe the disaster as "tembatsu" - divine punishment - but added: "I do feel sorry for the victims."