The pol who won't give up

摘要

"Do you mind if I smoke?" rasps Kaoru Yosano, 72, a survivor of throat cancer. Mr Yosano is no quitter. At an age when, even in Japan, many politicians bow out, on January 14th he performed a flying trapeze act by joining the government of Naoto Kan, whose Democratic Party of Japan (dpj) he has derided for years. A year ago, when the dpj's Yukio Ha-toyama was prime minister, Mr Yosano wrote a book called "The dpj Destroys Japan's Economy".