Osaka's Bombshell Mayoral Vote

The colorless politicians in the Nagata-cho, Japan’s Capitol Hill, can only look on the recent landslide election of Toru Hashimoto as mayor of Osaka with a mixture of envy and dread – envy of his obvious voter appeal and charisma and dread that his special election magic won’t stay bottled up in his Kansai area bailiwick.

Hashimoto was elected mayor of …