Taro Aso Suggests Learning from Nazis

Photo by Valeriy Yevseyev via Wikimedia Commons

Taro Aso, a former Prime Minister, had some interesting ideas about changing the constitution. Here's a quote from Nikkan Sports: "ドイツのワイマール憲法はいつの間にか変わっていた。誰も気がつかない間に変わった。あの手口を学んだらどうか" Here's a crappy English translation: "No one was aware when the Weimar Constitution was implemented. No one noticed the change. How about we learn from that trick?" Aso was referring to the changes Hitler made to the German Constitution. The LDP wants to make several constitutional changes, many of which don't have popular support. Aso isn't just some old crazy guy. Currently he is the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan (kind of like the Vice President, but he doesn't automatically become the Prime Minister if Abe dies). I will say that the other quotes were ambiguous. Perhaps he was trying to say we shouldn't do what the Nazis did, but he did a really bad job of explaining that. Also, why would you ever bring up that your own party is acting like Nazis? For the record, I don't actually think they're being Nazis.

Just a couple fun facts on Aso:
* He's Catholic, which is very uncommon in Japan. Just more bragging rights for Catholics.
* He's a huge idiot. He has been ridiculed for not being able to read basic kanji (that most children could read).
* His family's coal mine used POW labor during WWII.

There's a bunch of other stuff about this guy that's crazy. Look it up if you care.