Timid voice of little Taro Watanabe, age 8, saying: "But, Daddy, they already do."
In any case this a completely non-political digression about "making a beautiful country" out of innuendo, cliches and vague promises. Nothing political about that is there.
But in that soon-to-become beautiful country, I would humbly request some attention to the problem of INADEQUATE bike-paths, almost everywhere in the Kanto region, though to be quite honest, on the road down from Utsunomiya there are some patches of adequate bikeway, but interspersed as elsewhere by stretches that are - well, almost lethal.
So for all the bluster and bravado, we would humbly request this maximum leader, the Il Duce of Denenchofu, the Beloved Father and Brightest Sun in the Sky to make A BIT MORE EFFORT to make roadways safer for the ultimate in eco-logical transport, the best man and Nature have ever devised, the modern bicycle. (Rah rah, huzzah huzzah!!)
Sermon finished, may the kami-gami and the nippon-no-shinbutsu bless you and have a safe ride home. Beware of mad dogs and cut glass. Urge all your officially registered Nipponjin friends to vole for the LDP. The nominal gratuity I accepted for making this blatant political commercial will go to a good cause I can assure you - an earth-friendly all-carbon Leopard team bike for yours truly to ride and you all to admire. Make mine a Macchia Velli please, hold the sugar.
And as blessed Spring and sakura appoach, DO remember to say a few prayers for the ghosts of Messrs Obuchi and Hashimoto who stepped in the path of the Juggernaut and got their softer parts squeezed in its treads. May they rest in peace and the bloody hand on the wheel remember to listen for those footsteps in the dark. As Dilbert might have said, "I am not anti-authoritarian, I am just anti-idiot." Justice will be served. I've got my own vision of beauty, rest assured.
