Babies are always news, but an even more special baby than usual is expected in Japan in April. Its mother is a news-maker herself: Diet member and former Olympic speed skater and cyclist Ms. Seiko Hashimoto. Dubbed a "superwoman" of Japanese athletics, Ms. Hashimoto competed in seven consecutive Olympics Games, both winter and summer, and won a bronze medal for speed skating in 1992. Doubtless on the strength of her celebrity, she was elected to the Upper House as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party in July 1995.
A standout in two sports by virtue of her physical gifts, Ms. Hashimoto is a standout in the Diet merely by virtue of her gender. Fewer than 10 percent of the 752 seats in both Houses are held by women. The shortage of separate bathroom facilities for women in the male-dominated Parliament building is legendary -- and a long-standing symbol of the sheer demographic lopsidedness of the legislature. Female Cabinet appointees are routinely acknowledged to be tokens, a cynical sop to women voters.
In a sense, Ms. Hashimoto is also a token, as much a product of the public's fascination with celebrities as both the previous and current governors of Tokyo. Catapulted into politics by her athletic achievements, she has drawn criticism during her tenure in office for sacrificing Diet responsibilities to her training schedule. Certainly it must have been a stretch fulfilling parliamentary duties while simultaneously participating in the Olympics, as Ms. Hashimoto did when she competed in cycling events in Atlanta in 1996. And so far she has shown no sign of emulating the brilliant career of an even more luminous sports star-turned-politician in another country, former U.S. Senator and current presidential candidate Bill Bradley.