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Everyone Loves Japan’s Drunken Finance Minister


Here is Japan’s beloved finance minister, Shoichi “Slurry Joe” Nakagawa, performing his hilarious “drunken finance minister” routine at some G7 press conference. Now he must resign! That’s how they roll in Japan. [MarketWatch]


12:15 AM on Tue February 17 2009
By Ken Layne
4028 Views

  1. He’s just tired from the flight.

  2. shortsshortsshorts says at 12:21 am, February 17th, 2009

    There’s no Foreign Minister like a Japanese Foreign Minister ’cause a Japan Foreign Minister never stop. Someone throw this guy a Red Bull and Vodka, before he stays on your he’s on your side (literally, he is about to throw up on the side of your body). Give this man a Nobel, and let’s be done with it.

  3. iwillsavethispatient says at 12:24 am, February 17th, 2009

    Every Finance minister who isn’t drinking him/herself into oblivion at the moment should resign, as they obviously don’t understand the seriousness of the problem.

    Presumably, he would have gotten away with it if he’d memorized some of Churchill’s comebacks. What’s Japanese for “But in the morning, I shall be sober, but you, my dear, will still be ugly”.

  4. Texan Bulldoggette says at 12:28 am, February 17th, 2009

    Actually, don’t they have to kill themselves to maintain their family’s honor?

  5. iwillsavethispatient: I’m thinking Geithner’s a coke guy, myself.

  6. shortsshortsshorts: They owe us a barfing-on after Bush I anyway.

  7. 2druk2phluq says at 12:50 am, February 17th, 2009

    “Aszh I wuz sane, zose rousy Merkan dogs, dwop bomb. Kilt miyons uv people. Miyons. Fer rut? We drop few bomz on navy ships. We kill 4, no 3, no 4, or 5, hundreds uv Merkans. And they fries over Hee-roshma and light away kill miyons. (sob, sniffle, sob) I rike you. I rike you because you risten. You good flend. You velly good flend, even if you… rare’s my saki? Rut happen to my saki?”

  8. Bearbloke says at 12:53 am, February 17th, 2009

    Texan Bulldoggette: yeah… wake me when the Hari-Kiri youtube video comes out…

  9. Just another drone in Japan says at 12:57 am, February 17th, 2009

    0h please, he just had a cold, its not like he puked in anyone’s lap or anything.
    Altho that would have been funnier.

  10. Heywood Floyd says at 1:02 am, February 17th, 2009

    Are you implying that Asians can’t handle their liquor? RACIST!

  11. Just another drone in Japan says at 1:12 am, February 17th, 2009

    What’s Japanese for “But in the morning, I shall be sober, but you, my dear, will still be ugly”.

    Kono ba hosutesu no fera no sabisu ari ka yo?

  12. Well, at least they knew enough in advance to put up a graphic behind him that adds the ‘-gate’ universally used for all minor political scandals. Forever, also.

    [Drunken Japanese Minister]-G8

  13. But could we love this guy less than Burris? After all, he seems to have an excuse.

  14. shortsshortsshorts says at 1:40 am, February 17th, 2009

    Josh Fruhlinger: “Cokeperson,” you sexist.

  15. hobospacejungle says at 1:48 am, February 17th, 2009

    This guy could be my new hero since Blago hasn’t much been in the news lately. God, I miss that guy. Non-stop entertainment, he was. Now if Mr. Nakagawa can just hang on, not resign, not ritually plunge a sword into his guts and slice them up, I can replace my Blago shrine with a Nakagawa shrine. Maybe if I write to him he’ll send me a pair of his used panties.

  16. iwillsavethispatient: “But in the morning, I shall be sober, but the Bush sub-prime mortgage-leveraged economy of the US will still be ugly”.

  17. comradepaulson says at 1:58 am, February 17th, 2009

    S.Luggo: Either way, someone’s getting fucked here.

  18. hobospacejungle: “Now if Mr. Nakagawa can just hang on, not resign, not ritually plunge a sword into his guts …”
    Let’s not suggest to Henry Paulson to avoid the honorable way out.

  19. Just another drone in Japan says at 2:13 am, February 17th, 2009

    hobospacejungle:

    He’s already resigned, due to “health problems”.
    What no jokes about Taro Aso? Come on, “Aso”? He was president of the Aso Mining Company now known as the Aso Group?
    Rozen Maiden fan?
    Funniest Japanese PM ever?

  20. shortsshortsshorts says at 2:17 am, February 17th, 2009

    The plague is doing this to all of you.

  21. Just another drone in Japan says at 2:23 am, February 17th, 2009

    trondant:

    bushuru: an act of embarrassing public vomiting; literally, to do a bush.

  22. trondant says at 2:48 am, February 17th, 2009

    It would be just like that Innsmouth-based gang of incestuous Bush fish-persons to pervert ‘doing a bush’ into something gross - whatever happened to burning rubber in a pussy because you love America? Old Pike Prescott must be spinning in his watery U-Boat grave over this. Or not. Also.

  23. comradepaulson:
    I’d hope that the hang knot would slip over the neck Phil Gramm and his cohorts in Congress for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, which had regulated the financial services industry. But, as with crash of the Savings and Loans (due to improvident real estate investments allowed by dereg) in the late 70s, it will be — once again — the taxpayers who will pay for the losses of another unbridled portion of the “free-market”.

    May Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand console each other in the Ninth Ring. Small comfort as I sup upon my hobo gruel and listen to “The Big Rock Candy Mountain“ sung about the campfire..

  24. Just another drone in Japan:
    “He’s already resigned, due to “health problems.”
    As a Japanese citizen, at least he has universal health care.

  25. Sabre_Justice says at 3:19 am, February 17th, 2009

    I don’t blame him.

  26. Hello Sunshine says at 3:21 am, February 17th, 2009

    Pedantry Corner: Given that it helpfully says “G8″ in huge letters on the wall behind Slurry Joe, why does the post and the caption on the clip talk about the “G7″ meeting?

  27. Just another drone in Japan says at 3:28 am, February 17th, 2009

    “As a Japanese citizen, at least he has universal health care.”
    And whale sashimi (as the kids say, “Also”)

  28. SuperSecretMuslinMoran says at 4:17 am, February 17th, 2009

    I RORed.

  29. windupbird says at 5:29 am, February 17th, 2009

    I wish he would have just yelled BORRRRRRR-ring like my 4 year old does in church.

  30. He has looked upon the wine saki when it was red or white or clear or whatever. Mmmmm, saki, though I don’t prefer it warm.

  31. Captain Swing says at 6:01 am, February 17th, 2009

    “To much cough medicine” now appears to be the official explanation.

    I, for one, totally believe him. I mean, those syrups are foul- Of course he need that bottle of Dewar’s to wash it down…

  32. Also, “She hath shown us her glory and her GREAT ASS” These ads are approved of by TGY.

  33. Naked Bunny with a Whip says at 6:34 am, February 17th, 2009

    like my 4 year old does in church.

    I heart your 4-year-old for that.

  34. Naked Bunny with a Whip says at 6:35 am, February 17th, 2009

    I was going to make a “I coulda had a G-8!” joke, but I don’t feel like getting banned so early.

  35. Cape Clod says at 7:06 am, February 17th, 2009

    Later on the minister was found roaming the corridors of his hotel, stripped to the waist, dangerously waving an epee and challenging anyone to fight him.

  36. It’s sake. Not saki. Also.

  37. ManchuCandidate says at 7:35 am, February 17th, 2009

    I kinda wished he thought he was at a karaoke bar and started singing “Pennies from Heaven” or “Feelings.”

  38. Giant Robot says at 7:36 am, February 17th, 2009

    Howzit that our guys can stay cold sober and fuck things up way worse than this guy?

  39. ExecutorElassus says at 8:08 am, February 17th, 2009

    Giant Robot: Who said our guys were sober? Shit, nobody does scotch-drenched coke-addled cash-burning benders better than ‘murkins! USA USA USA!!!1

    If I were this guy, I’d be wanting to induce cirrhosis as fast as possible. Didn’t they just finish a Lost Decade? And now they’re being dragged into another one? Yeah: time to get stinko. Also.

  40. Paul Tardy says at 8:09 am, February 17th, 2009

    His familly says he hasn’t been the same since the carry trade unwound. A-bada-bumm.

    It would have been cool if he lit up some smokes and started talking about how no matter what happens in the future, we still have all our friends, loved ones, and government jobs. As for the ordinary citizen, they will always have their friends and loved ones; unless the loss of a job destroys their familly live and pushes them of the edge of dispair. Aw, shlipt…

    Personally I think Geithner could use some booze and smokes myself.

  41. Kwame'sLittleHelper says at 8:16 am, February 17th, 2009

    He should have just said that someone “prayed joke and put pee-pee in his coke”.

  42. rocktonsammy says at 8:28 am, February 17th, 2009

    He is upset over this analog Teevee thing, I’m still drunk over it.

  43. MathewBrooks says at 8:43 am, February 17th, 2009

    The ‘drunken finance minister’ routine is a rich Japanese tradition…

  44. hard to blame him, though, what with everyone around him talkin’ foreign talk — what’s up with that?

  45. norbizness says at 8:56 am, February 17th, 2009

    He thought that drinking lots of Michelob Ultras would turn him into Ultraman. Silly Minister!

  46. Mr Blifil says at 9:01 am, February 17th, 2009

    This guy would be a total washout as a ninja.

  47. He rooky rike he’s had enough. There’s an almost Butterstick-like quality to the cuteness of it all.

  48. vkladchik says at 9:16 am, February 17th, 2009

    He’s not drunk. That long-ass question put him to sleep.

  49. Come here a minute says at 9:54 am, February 17th, 2009

    bago: He could have kept his job if he had used the Schartz-Metterklume Method.

  50. ManchuCandidate: How about “Love is a Many Splendored Thing?”

  51. So yeah, cold meds can definitely knock you out (giving the guy the benefit of the doubt). Minor inconvenience, yet he resigns his post because of his behavior. And then on the other side of the world we have Wall Street thugs whose punishment for failing on an enormously larger scale, by comparison, is billions of dollars thrown at them.

  52. My husband’s comment: too much sake and hookers on the plane. I love this man!!

  53. windupbird: I find it hard to believe that any Wonkette commenter could enter a church and not spontaneously combust.

  54. sarcasticusername says at 12:14 pm, February 17th, 2009

    you’d look like that too, if you really knew how fucked the world economy is. soon, we will all be drunken japanese finance ministers.

  55. Is all this “humorous Oriental dialect” shit really necessary?

  56. Jollity: By which I mean, stuff like You good flend. You velly good flend, even if you… rare’s my saki? Rut happen to my saki? and He should have just said that someone “prayed joke and put pee-pee in his coke”.

  57. Red Zeppelin says at 12:56 pm, February 17th, 2009

    Something a little disconcerting about Wonketeers making fun of someone just for drinking on the job. Just sayin.

  58. windupbird says at 6:11 pm, February 17th, 2009

    Guppy06: heh heh - well, I’m Catholic, but more of the lapsed variety than frequent flier type. I haven’t gone to confession for about 25 years, so I can’t take communion when I do attend Mass. I’m pretty sure that I’d be saying a zillion Hail Marys and Our Fathers after a visit to the confessional…plus, I don’t feel the need to belong to a church. I don’t agree with alot of the basic tenets, therefore I no longer identify with the church.

    That reply was way too serious. And long.

  59. villageatrois says at 7:12 am, February 18th, 2009

    Just another drone in Japan: Bushurumashita! 今

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