Hong Kong Madam on Shinzo Abe

The Hong Kong Madam appears to be a Chinese woman from a wealthy Hong Kong family who came to Japan to go to college, never left, and these days is among other things a near-native Japanese-language blogger. Here is an excerpt and translation from her 21 July 2006 post, on the eve of Shinzo Abe’s election as Prime Minister.

…形だけが選挙をしたとうこと。ならば国民投票で日本の総理大臣を選べばいいのではないか、きっとキムタクになってしまうかもね。
… an election in form only. In that case, why not choose the Prime Minister of Japan in a national referendum… it would probably be Kimutaku.

それにしても美容研究家の私はこの総理候補のルックスに是非いわせていただきたいことがある。５１歳の割にはつやもはりもなく、常に疲れた顔で、眉間に皺をよせ、どうみても一国のリーダーよりも単なる疲れきったブルドックしかみえない、なのに、街頭インタービューの貴婦人たちが口を揃って素敵な方ですねと絶賛する、なぜかしら？どうみても健康的にみえない、エネルーギも感じさせない、人相でもあのまゆと目とくちの組み合わせは非常にわがままで、主観的な人、自分の思い通りにならないときはすぐに顔に出るタイプです。けして人の意見を耳傾けることもなく、暴走する傾向もあり、抑えるにはどうしてもと姉さん女房が必要です。でないと 大変なことになってしまう。しかもあのたるみと艶のなさを見る限り、大変内臓の弱いひとで、腎臓と大腸は要注意です。

As a student of cosmetology, there is something that I insist on saying about this Prime Minister candidate’s looks. For someone who is only 51, he has a face that is lacking in luster and gloss and always tired, and wears a frown, and looks in every which way like a worn-out bulldog instead of a national leader; yet ladies interviewed on the streets all praise him highly, saying that he’s a wonderful man…why? No matter how you look at him, he doesn’t look healthy, he doesn’t look energetic, and, phrenology-wise, the combination of his eyebrows, eyes and mouth [indicates that] he is a very selfish and subjective person who’s feelings show immediately when things do not go his way. He never listens to people, and he tends to run amok, so he needs a wife who is older than him to keep him under control. Otherwise, terrible things will happen. Moreover, judging solely on the basis of his sagging skin and lack of luster, he has very weak body organs, and should worry about his kidneys and large intenstine.*

I think that she’s overly harsh with regard to his character, though I feel that she has captured Mr. Abe’s doggedness in his pursuit of his agenda, some of the most important of which were of obviously low priority for the Japanese public.

But she nailed it almost perfectly on Mr. Abe’s health issues, and did quite well on his odd mixture of boyish features superimposed on the complexion of an old man. I don’t think that the media paid any attention to potential health problems at the time. As a bonus, she delivered the Delphi Oracle for a Change, a TV drama that aired 20 months later, with Kimutaku in the leading role as a most unlikely Prime Minister-hero.