Michael Cash wrote:

>> Just out of interest, why do so many non-Japanese routinely
>> pour  scorn on this guy?
> 
> Because Walter Mitty is better as a film character than as a
> real-life human being and because certain of his antics are
> an embarrassment.

Which ones?

> I don't feel the need to have a "white leader" in Japan in the
> way that the African-American community has "black leaders"
> (Jackson, Sharpton, etc).

To me that misses the point. As I see it it's not so much about about 
"white rights" as about unreconstructed Japanese attitudes, from 
"Nihonjinron" to outright racial prejudice. The Japanese seem more 
willing to take it from him than from a Brazilian, Korean, etc. - which 
is racist in itself, but you've got to start somewhere!

John