Some find looking sexy appealing, though many others might disagree. Sex is something that we do not talk about in public places, though we might be involved in the act on a regular basis. The same applies to few other human acts that are considered better to not talk about loudly. This is probably a basic lesson that we learn as we grow. But what if some show the sign of not growing up despite accumulating the age count? The answer probably is: for ordinary folks it's not a matter of grave importance; however, for those in public life, uttering the word might signal an approaching problem leading to who knows what. I'm definitely not talking about politicians like the one at the helm of the most powerful nation, from whom we no longer expect any decency. But for those our expectation runs high, it comes to our utter surprise if we hear them pronouncing something that we do not expect coming from them.

It was only in the first half of September that the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe included a few new young faces in his reshuffled cabinet. The centre of attraction among such young figures had been Shinjiro Koizumi, a young Diet member and the second son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who had already earned his name by taking critical standing on a number of crucial issues, including the shutting down of nuclear power plants. He also came to media highlight recently after his much talked about marriage to the well known TV personality Krystel Takigawa. All these acts fuelled his approval rate among citizens, particularly among younger generations, and Abe decision to include him to his latest cabinet also reflected the prime minister's desire to use that support rate in favour of the whole cabinet.

Shinjiro Koizumi was given the portfolio of environment and at the age of 38 he became the third-youngest cabinet member in post World War II Japan. As environment minister, young Koizumi had a very good start as he questioned the rationality of maintaining nuclear power generation capability despite strong public opposition. However, he remained silent on few other environmental issues, including how to tackle plastic waste and also about coal fired power generation that Japan is opting for these days. Since such issues are yet to gain wider foothold in public discussions, his silence was not seen something as a big mistake. But all that changed almost overnight after he made a foul comment at a news conference in Ney York recently.

According to media reports in Japan, Koizumi was sent to New York to attend the environmental conference at the UN headquarters to show Japan's resolve to counter global warming and also to show how youthful faces are to play crucial role in this matter of utmost concern. The young minister also had the desire to learn first-hand the art of international diplomacy in such global gatherings and he probably had the added intention to use the event for consolidating media support. After all Greta Thunberg had been there, a girl 20-year younger than Koizumi, and Japanese media had been following Koizumi's every move in New York, including which restaurant he went to for having a good stake dinner.

In New York Koizumi also met the delegation of Japanese students who had been there to reflect the voice of Japanese youth in support of a global movement to fight climate change. He encouraged the Japanese youth and asked for their continued support for the crucial issues related to global warming. Up to that point he was praised and was seen as a perfect choice for heading a ministry with the responsibility of addressing the issues related to environmental disaster. The press event came after his meeting youth the young Japanese and with that came the blunder as well.

He sounded upbeat as he talked to the Japanese media representatives and suggested that he would do everything possible to increase public awareness of environment issues and encourage citizens' movements for protecting the environment. But he was probably a bit puzzled learning about the lack of enthusiasm among Japanese to join such movements and wanted to suggest his own recommendation that he thought would be sounding appealing to more people. His suggestion was very clear - make environment movement cool and sexy so that people find it appealing and join en mass to create pressure on world leaders to take drastic actions for saving the planet from a looming disaster. However, the comment itself turned out to be disastrous for a young politician whose star had been on the ascent to a degree that some were even talking openly as seeing in him as a future replacement for Abe.

Japanese media had since then picked up that slanderous part of Koizumi statement and are busy criticizing the young politician for not thinking seriously before making a comment. The way he spoke at the press conference does not suggest it was just a slip of tongue. Rather, his forceful voice and stress on making environment movement cool and sexy gives a clear indication that he was meaning what he said. Though he did not hint about how a popular movement can be turned into a sexy one so that more people would be jumping the bandwagon, a mere suggestion from a minister was enough to fuel the gossips surrounding.

Though Koizumi later explained that what he wanted to mean should not be taken in the direct content of the wording, few now believe that he is sincere or even capable enough in handling crucial issues. Some even started pointing to the hereditary legacy of Japanese politics where politicians, particularly those from the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) inherit parliamentary seats of their fathers and decent to the political arena from high above. There is no sign of the trend showing any declining trend. In Abe cabinet there is no shortage of such hereditary parliamentarians joining the ranks of cabinet ministers.

For Shinjiro Koizumi the lesson was a very hard learned one and he had to pay the price with the counting of a drastically dwindling public support along with strong media criticism. However, this can also work out as something that might help the young politician gaining much needed maturity, if he intends to take it that way. Which way the wind will flow, his days ahead as the head of environment ministry will show clear signs of all that.

(Tokyo, October 1, 2019)