…going to chicago…
Always nice to be in my old Hometown…where I spoke yesterday to about 65 people at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, formerly the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and sold more than a dozen copies of Shutting out the Sun.
I also had a good chat on Worldview on WBEZ, the Chicago NPR affiliate, with Jerome McDonnell, a thoughtful man who had actually read the book before our conversation. (Now THAT is a rare treat!) You can find a download of our conversation here:
The other interesting event of the day…was a response by the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles to my LA Times column of last week. He argues with my characterization of PM Shinzo Abe as being “handpicked” by outgoing PM Koizumi…and says he was elected after “open and vigorous debate.” The letter to the editor is here:
Another view of Japan
The whole response is sort of comical since all of about 510 members of the Liberal Democratic Party — not the nation at large — selected Abe to lead. And Koizumi himself told the nation he would vote for Abe. So yes, there were other candidates standing in the race…but the result was a foregone conclusion.