Ishihara's poisoned tongue wags again

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara is no stranger to running off at the mouth, but this time his remarks about three islands that belong to China take the biscuit.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda responded to Ishihara's proposal on April 18, by suggesting that the government would not rule out the possibility of buying the islands from their current "private owners".

On April 23, Yoshitaka Nakayama, the mayor of Ishigaki, the Okinawa prefecture municipality, which claims to have administrative jurisdiction over the islands in the East China Sea, tried to make a splash by throwing his support behind Ishihara's plan for Tokyo to buy the main part of China's Diaoyu Islands.