Dubya goes to Japan, part one.

W. is visiting Japan and (since it probably won't make the news state side) I'm here to capture all the fun and frolics.

It’s only natural that when a country hosts an international even that they want to show off their culture. Japan is currently hosting the G8 summit in Hokkaido. As such, the eight world leaders were asked to participate in the Tanabata tradition of writing a wish on a piece of paper and tying it to a tree. This tradition stems from the fact that Tanabata is the Star Festival and the words for “wish” and “star” are the same (hoshi) only written with different kanji. 欲しい and 星 respectfully. By the way, that was an excuse to see if the blogger software can handle Japanese writing.

So, what did the world leaders wish for? According to the Japan Times, the wishes were as follows:

England—PM Gordon “Not Blair” Brown. I will mock the other leaders, but not this one. July 7th may be Tanabata in Japan, but in the UK it is the anniversary of the London terrorist bombing. His wish was for an end to terrorism and a prayer for those who lost their lives in London. A class act.

Germany—Chancellor Angela “no amusing nickname” Merkel. She wished for a bright star to shine over the summit and for all nations to meet their responsibilities. A bit of a “take that” at the USA, which has a decades long reputation for signing treaties and accords, then using them to line the birdcage.

Japan—PM Yasuo “spell check says his name is Fu**er” Fukuda. The current PM has approval ratings below those of President Bush and is basically counting on this summit to save his job. He had a good chance here to show his intelligence and skill with the language (two things the Japanese apparently LIKE in their leaders) and he blew it by just writing one of his political catchphrases. “Learning from past wisdoms and creating new ones.” The spell checker may have been right.

USA—Still President George W. “I’m still allowed to touch things” Bush. This is a good one. I should point out that he wrote in English, it was translated into Japanese for the press, and that was retranslated back into English before the Japan Times published it. Why they didn’t just read the original, I don’t know. The Tanabata wish of Still President Bush: I wish for a world free from tyranny. Please insert your own joke about Jan 20, 2009 here: __________________________________________.

What a maroon!