Quiz: What was BOJ Chief Fukui’s 1st “Yellow Card”?June 20th, 2006 by Adamu |
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As many of you know, the Bank of Japan Chief Toshihiko Fukui is in trouble for not dropping an investment in the discredited Murakami fund after he took the position in 2003 (though he was not legally required to do so, nor was he required to disclose the investment through an uncanny oversight by regulatory authorities – the US, for its part, does require full financial disclosure from its FRB chiefs such as the last one, Alan Greenspan). It only makes sense since the BOJ Chief is the ultimate insider in a capital market.
In a recent column for his website, opposition DPJ Dietman Yoshihiko Noda (Lower/Chiba 4th) called the so-called transgression Fukui’s “second yellow card”, which in soccer means you’re out of the game.
Question: What is the first yellow card to which Noda is referring? Answer after the “jump”!!
Answer: He quit as vice chief in 1998 after it was found officials from banks, including the former Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, treated Ministry of Finance and BOJ bureaucrats to “no panties shabu shabu” – at a restaurant Fukui is known to have regularly attended (though Fukui was never actually prosecuted for anything). Shabu shabu is a kind of Japanese meat soup – it’s good, and apparently even better when the waitresses aren’t wearing their underwear. It was this and other, much worse incidents that led to MOF’s financial regulatory authority being stripped away and given to an entity we know today as the Financial Services Agency. And now you know!
June 20th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Although it’s not as exciting as no panties shabu shabu, there’s an awesome article in the Japan Times on Lionheart Koizumi’s eating habits.
Cool factoid number 1:
Cool factoid number 2:
I should try to find some of the places he eats. That would make for a much more interesting blog post than mere coffee ramen.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:03 am
While we’re making mini blog posts in the comments section, here’s an even better article about Koizumi:
Koizumi, the men’s weekly says, then proceeded to spend about 30 minutes telling jokes about condoms while the mostly male vice-ministers sat and listened. Economy Vice Minister Akira Matsu, the only woman present at the meeting, remained silent throughout.
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20060615p2g00m0dm016000c.html
July 14th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
[...] If you’ve spent any extended time in Japan then you have surely had an encounter with an Oyaji (or “ossan” depending on the circumstances). Chances are he looked something like this. You may have suspected that he at one time or another frequented one of Japan’s legalized prostitution hubs, but unlike Mr. Fukui here you had no proof that he liked his shabu shabu with no underwear. Nonetheless, the bad English, stinky breath, irrational claims of Japanese superiority, and general ickiness no doubt put you off. [...]