Sorry to hear about the shallowness of the Singapore otaku…though I suspect that most people with a very strong and narrow interest would probably think in a similar manner.

I tend to be nitpicky, so let me just clarify my issue with the term underdog. According to Merriam-Webster, it is defined as:

Main Entry: un·der·dog
Pronunciation: ‘&n-d&r-”dog
Function: noun
1 : a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest
2 : a victim of injustice or persecution

I believe the term “common man” might be more fitting for your comment since people tend to like someone they can identify with, rather than someone who looks like an elitist or upper class. Here is a tangentially appropriate quote:

“You who govern public affairs, what need have you to employ punishments? Love virtue, and the people will be virtuous. The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass — I the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends.”
—Henry David Thoreau “Walden”

As for Aso-san, he definitely had a different background than Fukuda-san. Unlike Fukuda-san, who started working after he graduated from college, Aso-san stayed in school abroad (in the US and, later, in the UK). He did work in a diamond mining operation in Sierra Leone, and then for his father’s mining company (serving as its president in the mid to late 1970s). He was a member of Japan’s shooting team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Although he is Fukuda-san’s junior by over 4 years, Aso-san has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1979…he has been re-elected 8 times. Fukuda-san, as mentioned above, has been a member of the House since 1990.

I, too, am not clear on all the workings of the Japanese Diet (and the Japanese goverment in general). In fact, I sometimes get perplexed by the workings of my own (US) government. For example, I would never have thought that the Vice-President would try to claim he was a member of the Legislative Branch.

The moment the ‘otaku’ in Singapore heard about the resignation of Abe the very first thing they thought was ‘If Aso becomes Prime Minister, that means cheaper otaku goods! Free shipping for figurines and related merch!’. Exposure to such narrowminded and selfish mindsets (which is the norm in this country) has made me extremely bitter and probably a little hostile.

To be honest, I have a very fuzzy idea on how the Japanese Diet works in situations like this. I’ve never paid too much attention to it until rather recently.

And well, as for the “underdog” comment, well, everyone likes a man who lived off the sweat of his brow before his rise to power. I wouldn’t know if Aso did work his proverbial butt off before his political appointment, but if he did, I withdraw that comment.

And on the subject of the ‘everyone reads manga in Japan’ comment, sweeping statement. I apologize. I still think the otaku don’t care about voting either way.

I suspect you are being facetious. But, let me address your first couple of points. First, while it is probably true that, per capita, Japan has more readers of manga than the US, it is also true that not everyone reads manga. I have to look no farther than my wife since she does not read manga nor does she watch anime. I am fairly confident that this is true with the majority of her family and friends as well…if any do, then it is done surreptitiously.

While it may be true that other Japanese politicians read manga, Aso-san is unique in that he treats his love for manga as a badge of honor…which is probably one reason why he has so much support among otaku.

Also, in case there is any confusion on the matter…the past election was for the LDP presidency. The LDP president would then become Prime Minister because the LDP holds the majority in the lower house of the Diet. The election was open only to LDP Diet members and the party’s 47 prefectural chapters…so in the short term, the general public’s opinion was irrelevant for this election, since they could not vote in it. Even though Aso-san and Fukuda-san did some campaigning and debating for the public, they really had to convince a majority of the 528 people who would be voting in the election.

Fukuda-san was never the “underdog”. Within 24 hours of entering the race, he already had the support of the largest factions in the LDP and had a comfortable majority. The only chance Aso-san had of making it close was to hope that the prefectural chapters would defect in a landslide…which didn’t happen. Also, a survey of voters in the general public showed that they favored Fukuda-san…which could be an important factor come the next general election.

The general public will get their chance to reshape the government in the next general election…currently scheduled for 2009. However, the DPJ, who holds the majority in the upper house, will be pressuring Fukuda to call early elections. I am sure the LDP would rather not have a snap election. In either case, there is a good chance they will lose seats in the lower house and possibly lose the majority.

Yes, he takes his manga seriously. In April, while he was Foreign Minister, he urged French presidential candidate, Segolene Royal, to reconsider her stance on manga and to “read a little bit more” manga. She had criticized Japanese society for its apparently high degree of tolerance for expressions of violence and pornography in popular culture in her 1989 book Le Ras-le-bol des bébés zappeurs (”The Dissatisfaction of the Channel-Flipping Generation”). She eventually lost to Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off.

And on that line of reasoning, why would anyone side with the dark side of Japan, and screw up the rest of the country? I don’t get it. Why would a politician want the votes of the otaku (assuming they even vote in the first place, and I don’t think they even care about politics), when he can convince the rest of the country (which is definitely more than 3 million, and there’ll be at least some people voting for you) you’re the man for the job?

Seriously, who’s surprised at the fact that a salaryman got the top post? He worked his butt to the top (with a lot of luck factored in, definitely). Who doesn’t like the ‘underdog’?