Today the Asahi Shimbun had the biggest headline I have ever seen since the Niigata earthquake. It said when translated: Abe Sore Daijin(Prime Minister)-Quits.
And now the explanations begin:
A day after announcing his resignation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe entered a hospital Thursday morning to receive treatment for stomach and intestinal disorders.
“His body was substantially weakened all over,” a doctor at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward said in a news conference Thursday.
Doctors said Abe lost about 5 kilograms in the past several months and that he will likely be hospitalized for three or four days.
“According to doctors, (Abe) was worn out and he needed to go through checks at a place with the proper facilities,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano said in a news conference earlier Thursday.
Yosano said he has so far not heard anything about plans for an interim prime ministerĀ
Its not like he has been under any stress or anything lately. š
In the meantime the “gas war” goes on. Refuel or not to refuel that is the question:
Pakistani warships in the Indian Ocean can likely operate without the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s refueling operations, the MSDF chief said, contradicting one of the government’s arguments for continuing the anti-terror mission.
“In principle, it is possible” for the United States and other countries in the multinational forces to provide substitute fuel, Adm. Eiji Yoshikawa, chief of staff of the MSDF, said at a news conference Tuesday.
Yoshikawa said MSDF vessels are providing high-quality fuel with the use of fuel purifiers. But he added that supply vessels of other countries are also “generally” equipped with fuel purifiers.
He said he “believes” that Pakistani warships would be able to operate without fuel supplied by the MSDF.
After this the explanations descended into only what can be categorized as the theater of the absurd:
Yoshikawa’s statements cast doubt on the government’s contention that MSDF vessels are the only ones that can provide high-quality fuel for Pakistani warships in the war against terror in Afghanistan.
“Pakistani navy ships are, as it were, motor vehicles that run only on premium gasoline,” Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi told a news conference Monday. “SDF supply vessels are effectively the only ones that can provide the required fuel.”
The fact that the gas is free has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Honest. No really. Stop laughing. Who says Pakistani warships are not the Porsche’s of the Indian Ocean?