Two weeks ago, Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose gave an interview to the New York Times in which he violated International Olympic Committee rules by publicly bad-mouthing Istanbul and Madrid, the Japanese capital's two rivals to host the 2020 games. On top of that he disparaged Islam. Later he apologized but tried to blame his faux pas on a linguistic misunderstanding, ragging petulantly at reporters who kept questioning his sincerity. "Do you want the Olympics or not?" he said to them.

Actually, that's something they should be asking him. Inose inherited the job of leading Tokyo's bid for the games from his predecessor, Shintaro Ishihara. When Inose was vice governor he had his own pet issues, most of which involved making trouble for bureaucrats. It's the only trait he shared with Ishihara. Despite what some people believe in light of his NYT interview, he is not a pugnacious right-winger. As a young man he was a labor union functionary. However, his world view doesn't appear to be as broad as he thinks it is.

What Inose's comments revealed is a lack of political common sense. When the tabloid Gendai complained that his recent trip to New York was unnecessarily expensive, Inose lashed out. "I don't care that (Gendai) doesn't like the Olympics," he tweeted. "But it's unfair that they don't cover the other policies of the Tokyo metropolitan government." But that's what tabloids do, and getting upset about Gendai's article only drew more attention to it. Then, while in New York, he inspected the city's public transit system and announced he would work to make Tokyo's Toei subway and bus lines run 24 hours a day, thus generating a lot of empty press excitement since as governor he has no control over Toei's operations. So he had to backtrack on that promise.