Osakatomebaby

Everyone's favorite politician, Shigefumi Matsuzawa, Governor of Kanagawa (left), was on hand last month for the opening of a new subway line which happens to stop in Chinatown, Yokohama. Kind of an urban revitalization project for areas built out during the bubble economy that never had a chance to bloom. Guess that means it's not "revitalization", but you get the idea.

Matsuzawa made headlines last year during a campaign tour with the quote:

Foreigners are all sneaky thieves. As Tokyo Gov. (Shintaro) Ishihara has cracked down on them, they have flowed into Kanagawa Prefecture.

Kanagawa is home to Yokohama which is traditionally a port city with a major foreign community (well, legitimately foreign about 4-5 generations ago) as exemplified by Chinatown. Now take into account the fact that a major chunk of the foreigners he's largely referring to are Chinese.

According to the Japan Times:

[He] qualified his assertion Sunday that "all" foreigners are "sneaky thieves," stating instead that only "some" are.

And Americans get upset when Hillary makes a Gandhi joke.

But then, quotes usually get the biggest (desired or no) effect from the fact that they are information used out of context. Not that he should ever have said this but it would help to know why.

From an article (with an admittedly cynical stance) in Aussie newspaper, "The Age":

The...Governor was reflecting a widely held view - being aired in this election - that foreigners are to blame for Japan's crime wave.

...The issue has been fuelled by the National Police Agency and figures it released in August, which showed the record crime rate. The agency blamed foreigners for the deterioration in public safety.

The report showed a jump in crime committed by foreigners last year - 34,746 cases, representing a rise of about 25 per cent. But a closer examination revealed that once immigration offences were taken out, foreigners were responsible for only 4 per cent of crimes committed.

I don't know. I think he looks a little nervous.