Liberal Democratic Party honcho Ryutaro Hashimoto needs all the positive PR he can muster to counteract the bad press he's received since his alleged acceptance of a bribe from the Japan Dental Association came to light.

That may explain why Hashimoto participated in an uchimizu demonstration in front of the National Diet Building on Aug. 25. Uchimizu is the practice of sprinkling water on the ground in front of one's residence or place of business.

In the past month or so this traditional hot-weather countermeasure has received a lot of media attention because of the heat wave that's rolled over Tokyo.