Yoshiro Mori, the last of the real faction
leaders, true old-school LDP, is retiring and gives a no-holds-barred
interview to Sankei Shinbun, which has been kind enough to reproduce it in
its edited entirety on its website. He has something bad to say about everyone
involved in the LDP presidential race, including incumbent Sadakazu Tanigaki
for not supporting Nobuteru Ishihara, his deputy who essentially forced him to give up running for a second term. Read
my translation below of the juicy bits and tell me, is it just me (and the
group of academics whom I spent the evening with) who thinks that 1) Mori is a
true dinosaur for thinking that it’s okay to tell all now, instead of waiting
for another 20 years or his own death, whichever comes first, and 2) it’s no
wonder Nobuteru Ishihara got so little support from the LDP Diet members?
Shintaro [Ishihara] says
just before the [last] Tokyo gubernatorial election is formally launched that
he won't stand for reelection. The LDP is adamant that it wants him to
continue. It something can't be done, the LDP leadership may have to take
responsibility. Sadakazu Tanigaki, who was LDP PResident at the time, had Vice
Predsident Sadamori Ohshima negotiate [with Ishihara] but was making no
headway. I was asked by the two, so his son Nobuteru and I pleaded with him to
change his mind.
I said to him, "If you
leave the Tokyo Governor's office, it won't be good for Nobuteru, who is the
Secretary-General of the LDP. He'll have no chance to be prime minister."
It took until the night, but it eventually turned out that he would stay on. At
that point, the Tokyo governor said, "Make suerre you take takecare of my son." This was a promise of the
party. So I had no choice other than [Nobuteru] Ishihara. Actually, both
Tanagaki and Ohshima should have taken the lead in supporting Ishihara.
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