Japan's first lady tells of home life
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan (2nd L) and his wife Nobuko Kan (L) are greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen Harper (R) as they arrive at the G20 Summit in Toronto, June 26, 2010
He lacks dress sense, can't cook to save his life and badly flunked delivering his first policy speech. Meet Japan's new Prime Minister Naoto Kan - as seen by his wife.
These and other domestic insights are revealed in a new book by the woman Kan has called his "opposition in the home", entitled What on Earth will change in Japan after you become prime minister?
Japan's unconventional first lady, Nobuko, pulls few punches in the book about her husband of four decades, who took over in early June as prime minister of the world's No 2 economy.
"I wonder - 'Is it okay that this man is prime minister?' - because I know him well," the 64-year-old muses in the book released this week but written before Kan's party's recent upper house election drubbing.
"Many people in the current political world are lightweights. Things may turn out like this if you choose from among them."
Happy to break with the stereotype of the demure wife, sharp-tongued Nobuko relishes the role of Kan's toughest critic and famously spars with him over everything from household chores to tax reform.
She said that her image of a Japanese prime minister was closer to that of an elder statesman like Yasuhiro Nakasone, now 92, who served as a contemporary of then-US president Ronald Reagan for five years in the 1980s.
"Kan likes to be in the field ... I believe he is best suited to giving directions on the spot in support of somebody else," she said of her husband, a former civil rights activist and most recently Japan's deputy premier.
Kan is a good speaker in the street, she said, but "worse at reading prepared scripts".
"Even as a family member, I could not give him even a passing grade for his delivery of a policy speech, or for the question-and-answer sessions after he became prime minister."
She also revealed Kan has "no interest in fashion at all" and cannot cook even simple meals "because of the bad education by me and his mother".
他缺乏衣着品味，不会给自己做饭，首次施政演说也一塌糊涂。来看看日本新任首相夫人眼中的丈夫菅直人吧。
日前，日本首相夫人菅伸子最新出版了《你做首相，日本究竟会有什么变化？》一书，曝光了所有这些“家务事”。菅直人称她为家里的“反对派”。
日本新派第一夫人菅伸子在书中毫不客气地讲述了结发40年的丈夫菅直人。菅直人于六月初就任世界第二大经济体日本的首相。
现年64岁的菅伸子在本周出版的新书中沉思道：“我想知道，这个人能当首相吗？因为我太了解他了。”她在写这本书时，菅直人所在的政党还没有在最近的参议院选举中胜出。
“如今政坛很多人都不够资格，在矬子里面拔将军时就会这样。”
言语尖刻的菅伸子很高兴颠覆了首相夫人端庄贤淑的传统印象，对于“菅直人最尖锐的批评者”这一角色她津津乐道，并以从家务琐事到税制改革等所有问题都与首相争执不休而著称。
她称她印象中的日本首相应该像中曾根康弘那样的政坛元老。现年92岁的中曾根康弘曾在上世纪80年代担任日本首相长达五年之久，时任美国总统的还是罗纳德•里根。
菅伸子在谈到丈夫时说：“菅直人喜欢做具体的工作。我觉得他最适合协助别人出谋划策。” 菅直人曾是一名民权活动家，在就职首相前担任副首相一职。
菅伸子表示，菅直人在大庭广众之下能言善辩，但“不善于照本宣科。”
“就算作为家人，我也没办法给他的政策演说，或者就职后的首相质询会打及格分数。”
她还透露，菅直人“对时尚完全没兴趣”，“由于我和他的母亲没把他教好”，甚至不会做简单的饭菜。
pull few punches: to act with restraint or hold back the full force or implications of something（毫不客气，不留情面。pull punches则表示“手下留情”。）
drub: to defeat decisively（打败，彻底击败）
lightweight: a person who is of little influence, importance, or effect（轻重量级选手，不能胜任者）
demure: characterized by shyness and modesty; reserved（端庄的）
spar: to bandy words; dispute（多指在友好气氛中辩论，争论）