Secretary of State Hillary Clinton causes stir with plan to meet with opposition leader in Japan

[Turborama]

Source: NY Daily News

BY RICHARD SISK

Monday, February 16th 2009, 7:18 PM

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton's plan to meet with in Tokyo with an opposition leader caused a political stir in Japan on Monday in the midst of a ruling party scandal over an allegedly tipsy finance minister.

Breaking with protocol, the Secretary of State said that Ichiro Ozawa, head of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, would be included in a round of meetings Tuesday beginning with Prime Minister Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Ozawa was among those calling for the resignation of Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who slurred his words and appeared to nod off at a Rome economic summit over the weekend attended by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. As video of his behavior played endlessly on Japanese TV, Nakagawa admitted to having some wine but denied "heavy drinking." He said he hadn't been feeling well and may have taken too much cold medicine, according to Kyodo News.

Clinton picked Japan as the first stop on her debut overseas trip to the Far East to shore up Japan's posture as the top U.S. ally in the region.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_secretary_of_state_hillary_clinton_cause.html

[Submariner]

1. Don't piss off Hillary Tokyo

This is not mamby-pamby Condi you're dealing with, so whatever your hangup is...get over it.

[kirby]

3. It's Hilzilla!!!!

hehe

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Since Japanese Big Business's name is mud right now, I say "Go for it, Hillary!"

Labor in Japan could use a boost, the same way that labor in the US needs a boost. Workers of the world unite!