Friday, March 23, 2007

Very diplomatic

Japanese foreign minister Taro Asa is at it again. In the language skills department, he's up there with Daisuke Matsuzaka's (ex-)translator. Asa has a little history of bobbling the ball in public, Reuters reports:

He offended South Korea with remarks in 2003 that were interpreted in Seoul as trying to justify some of Japan's actions during its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula.

He also drew criticism in 2001 when, as economics minister, he said he hoped to make Japan the kind of country where "rich Jews" would want to live.

This time, Asa said in a speech that when it comes to Middle East diplomacy,

"Japan is doing what Americans can't do"....

"Japanese are trusted. If [you have] blue eyes and blond hair, it's probably no good," he said.

"Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces."

CNN gives the Reuters story a memorable headline: "Japan diplomat: Blonds 'no good' in Mideast talks"

Posted by Evan Hughes at 05:29 PM

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