Ever noticed how Japan — and in particular, its ruling elite — keeps getting away with astonishing bigotry?

Recently Ayako Sono, a former adviser of the current Shinzo Abe government, sang the praises of a segregated South Africa, effectively advocating a system where people would live separately by race in Japan (a "Japartheid," if you will). But that's just the latest stitch in a rich tapestry of offensive remarks.

Remember former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's claim that "old women who live after losing their reproductive function are useless and committing a sin," or his attribution of Chinese criminality to "ethnic DNA" (both 2001)? Or former Prime Minister Taro Aso admiring Nazi subterfuge in changing Germany's prewar constitution (2013), and arguing that Western diplomats cannot solve problems in the Middle East because of their "blue eyes and blond hair" — not to mention advocating policies to attract "rich Jews" to Japan (both 2001)? Or then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone declaring Japan to be "an intelligent society" because it was "monoracial," without the "blacks, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans" that dragged down America's average level of education (1986)?