AS LEADER of the world’s second largest economy, Naoto Kan may be one of the most powerful men on the planet, but his wife, for one, is not impressed.
Japan’s new prime minister is a poor speaker, a bad cook and can’t dress for toffee, according to Nobuko Kan (64), his wife of 40 years. Worse for the ailing country, he simply isn’t a leader.
"He's more of a number two or a number-three person rather than being at the top," says Mrs Kan in a new book entitled Now You Are Prime Minister, How On Earth Is Japan Going to Change?
Commentators are divided on whether the book will hurt or boost Mr Kan’s political career, which stumbled this month after his party took a pasting in national elections. The prime minister (63) himself told the press this week that he is “too scared” to read it.
His straight-talking wife has rarely fitted the stereotype of the demure Japanese spouse. A formidable campaign speaker in her own right, she has been by Mr Kan’s side since he was a left-wing citizens’ activist in the early 1970s.
The marriage almost hit the rocks about a decade ago when a magazine alleged that Mr Kan had spent a night in a hotel with a TV presenter. “My wife told me I was an idiot,” he said afterwards.
Mr Hatoyama’s wife also made headlines when she told a startled nation that her soul had taken a ride on a UFO with aliens and travelled to Venus. Miyuki Hatoyama said she had met Tom Cruise in a previous life – when he was Japanese.