Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is many things to many people, but nobody doubts his skill in the art of provocation.

"There are 100 million voters in Japan," he said recently. "What percent of them are protesting in front of the Diet? The number is insignificant. I'm not denying their right to protest. But it's wrong for the national will to be decided by such a small number of demonstrators. If they don't agree with the government, they should exercise their right to vote in the next Lower House election."

Over the past few weeks, via his Twitter account and in verbal responses to questions about the mass demonstrations against the collective self-defense bills led in part by the young Japanese who form the Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs), Hashimoto's attitude toward the role of public protest has been on display, provoking two sets of reactions among supporters and critics: The first most certainly intentional on his part and the second unintentional, but more revealing of his mindset.