Interesting...
But it's not just his style of delivery and presentation that gets Dr Funabashi's views heard. The youthful-looking 59-year-old thinks out of the box, expressing new thoughts and ideas with intellectual honesty.He tells it like it is, with a candour that is unJapanese. But he is outspoken without having to resort to the cheap shots that some Japanese politicians take, like Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, whose most recent controversial comment was that the Chinese people have 'criminal DNA'.
It is due to his reputation as a straight-talking commentator that he was appointed to the Koizumi government's commission to reform the scandal-stricken Foreign Ministry in 2002-03.
