Media vilification of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, to the point of virtually forcing his resignation, shows just how easily the major press and TV outlets here can control events in this emotional nation.
Mori did not campaign or maneuver for the top job; he was drafted by his peers as the best person to fill urgently the gap caused by the sudden death of former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. As secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and in other earlier posts, Mori had handled a wide range of issues fairly competently. He and his supporters have been quite right to insist Japan's economy can only be rescued by a continued infusion of funds.
Much is made of alleged gaffes -- Japan as a country of the gods, etc. But imagine what would happen if a U.S. president set out to deny that the United States was God's country. Mori is a typical grassroots, provincial-based, conservative politician. In a democracy, that is hardly a sin, even if Japan's elitist media think otherwise.