Bush in Japan

My aunt works for or is somehow otherwise tied to Barack Obama, who trounced his opponent in the race for Illinois US Senator. I fired off a congratulatory email to my aunt in which I systematically misspelled “Obama” as “Obana.” Go me.

The point of all this is that she asked how Japan is reacting to Bush’s reelection. Here is what I told her:

No one I know here is interested in politics, so it’s hard to guage Japan’s reaction on the individual level. What I’ve heard, though, is that Japanese people like Bush because he and Koizumi are buddies. Also, I imagine it’s because

• he is “tough on terror” (North Korea is, understandably, a big concern here),
• because the Christian Right’s bullshit is largely a foreign concept here,
• and because Japan always seems to be afraid of challenges to the status quo.

And thus ends my obligatory election commentary. Now for some hilarity: I Love Egg! and The Perry Bible Fellowship (don’t worry; it’s comics, not Jesus).