Keep The Tip

The Prime Minister of Japan received a hot tip in the mail. The tip, from the unemployed leader of a far right political group, wasn't about a hot stock or even a good horse to bet on.

It was the tip of the man's little finger.

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese nationalist sent part of a severed finger to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for not paying respects at a controversial war shrine, police said after arresting him Thursday.

Yoshihiro Tanjo, 54, was charged with intimidation tactics after chopping off part of a little finger and sending it to the headquarters of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, a police spokesman said.

Tanjo, who is unemployed but heads a right-wing group in the western city of Kurashiki, also sent a letter of protest and a DVD showing his act.

The chopping off of a piece of the little finger is usually associated with the Japanese underworld, so I have no idea what message the man was actually trying to send. But mailing portions of oneself to the Prime Minister could be an attempt to smuggle himself past the security surrounding the head of state.