09/02/17 18:08:43 +h7Aprp50
Finally, it is a reproach to the Japanese press, and another example of
the emasculating effect of Japan's system of reporters' "clubs". It took
too long to out poor old Charles Kennedy as a problem drinker, and he was
merely the leader of a small British opposition party. Japan's political
journalists all knew about Mr Nakakgawa's partiality, and they all chose
not to report it. They may claim that it did not matter as long as he was
doing his job. But the truth, I believe, has more to do with a widespread
and lamentable reverence for authority, and the fear of losing future
access to power by exposing it.
There he sat, slurring and sighing, barely able to keep his eyes open,
missing questions and muddling his facts. And no one dared to ask the
simplest question of all: "Minister, are you drunk?"
URLﾘﾝｸ(timesonline.typepad.com)