(((Even the unflappable Japanese electorate seems to have it figured that Fujimori, the first democratically-elected head of state to become a John Robb "global guerrilla,"
belongs in the" political freak scene" category.)))
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The Australian (Australia)
July 31, 2007 Tuesday
HEADLINE: Fujimori fails in Japan election bid
TOKYO: Japan's most controversial upper house candidates – former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori and ultra-nationalist Yuko Tojo – failed to win seats in parliament at the weekend.
Ms Tojo, 68, the granddaughter of Japan's hanged World War II prime minister Hideki Tojo, ran as an independent espousing nationalist causes so extreme that even outspoken conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's party kept a distance from her.
Mr Fujimori contested Sunday's upper house elections despite being under house arrest in Chile and facing extradition to Peru on charges of corruption and human rights violations.
He won 51,411 votes, according to the People's New Party, which sponsored his bid, falling short of the ballots needed to win a seat in the House of Councillors.
Critics suspected Mr Fujimori, Peruvian president from 1990 to 2000, hoped a victory in Japan would allow him to avoid trial in Peru if Chile decides to extradite him. A Chilean court refused a Peruvian government extradition request last month but Lima is expected to appeal. Mr Fujimori, 69, holds Japanese nationality thanks to his parents.
Ms Tojo had said she wanted to use a seat in parliament to restore her grandfather's name and the ''dignity'' of Japan.
General Tojo ordered Japan's surprise 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the US into World War II.
