Japan’s Finance Minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, made a complete fool of himself at last weekend’s G7 summit in Rome when he held a press conference that showed him slurring his speech and speaking incoherently.
And dozing off:
Of course, Nakagawa-san blamed it all on a nasty mix of cough medicine, jetlag and “a couple sips” of wine. Could’ve happened to any of us, really. Of course, just like any discerning YouTuber, his fellow countrymen know better – the minister has been caught in similarly-disheveled states before while in professional settings. So as shocking as this little snafu was, it didn’t necessarily come out of left field.
Nonetheless, I find it hard to blame the guy. After all, Japan’s economy shrank by 3.3% during the fourth quarter of 2008 (an annualized pace of almost 13%!) and some prognosticators are calling for a depression to take hold very soon. (There’s a reason brewers are considered recession-resistant, you know). And I’m told there’s lots of wine in Italy, so when in Rome…
