Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is many things to many people, but nobody doubts his skill in the art of provocation.
¡°There are 100 million voters in Japan,¡± he said recently. ¡°What percent of them are protesting in front of the Diet? The number is insignificant. I¡¯m not denying their right to protest. But it¡¯s wrong for the national will to be decided by such a small number of demonstrators. If they don¡¯t agree with the government, they should exercise their right to vote in the next Lower House election.¡±
Over the past few weeks, via his Twitter account and in verbal responses to questions about the mass demonstrations against the collective self-defense bills led in part by the young Japanese who form the Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs), Hashimoto¡¯s attitude toward the role of public protest has been on display, provoking two sets of reactions among supporters and critics: The first most certainly intentional on his part and the second unintentional, but more revealing of his mindset.
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