鳩山政権を振り返る ― make fool of oneself

鳩山前首相がツイッターでつぶやいていたことはよく知られています。当初は、”成りすまし”が出現したりし、話題になりました。これがきっかけかどうかは知りませんが、今では著名人のツイッターアカウントについて、”公認”マークがあるのだとか。

さて、前首相は退陣を余儀なくされましたが、その後謎のつぶやきをしていたことが話題になりました。


Yukio Hatoyama has finally spoken out about the recent events that ended in his resignation, days after the inauguration of his successor as prime minister, Naoto Kan.

But he chose not to speak on TV, or to a magazine or to a newspaper. Instead, he chose Twitter. Who was he Tweeting to? To the nation and to his ‘followers’ (although not just followers in the conventional Twitter sense).

And what did he say after his brief but total silence since stepping down earlier this month? Roughly translated, he said:

‘Now the “new public” appears to have a life of its own. I thank all those who allowed me to do the naked dance. I also would like to thank all those who followed after my naked dance. This amazing power of propagation will definitely change our world.’


Naked dance, or hadaka odori, means making a fool of oneself in public. So what did he mean by saying that here? Many of his Twitter followers were puzzled, and asked him what exactly he meant by ‘naked dance’.

The following day Hatoyama Tweeted again, this time with a link to a YouTube video presented by young music industry entrepreneur Derek Sivers who outlines how one ‘lone nut’ can start a movement with a single follower. Hatoyama accompanied the link with the words:

‘This video is the answer to the mystery of the “naked dance”. This is the idea of the “new public” where the entire nation takes responsibility in leading public affairs. With this in mind, I'd like to continue dancing like the young guy in this video.’
(Hatoyama's Naked Dance. The Diplomat. June 20, 2010.)


私はこの件について、Yahooニュースだったか、Googleニュースだったか忘れましたが、日本のメディアで知ったのですが、海外メディアがどう取り上げるだろうかと思って注意していたところ、本日上記の記事を見つけました。

この”裸踊り”のビデオを見た方も多いかと思います。私には意味不明でしたが・・・。

引用した記事にある通り、当人のつぶやきは、"making a fool of oneself"（物笑いの種になる）でしかなかったのではないでしょうか。