Photo/Illutration Tomihiro Tanaka, left, apologizes at a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 7. (Kazushige Kobayashi)

In the classic “rakugo” comic storytelling number called “Tsubozan,” a man who is a shrewd and calculating shopper agrees to accompany an acquaintance to a ceramics shop.

The acquaintance needs a large pot, but the man simply buys a small pot for 3 yen (2 cents) without explaining why.

The two leave the shop but return after a short stroll in the neighborhood. The man then tells the shop manager he wants to return the pot and exchange it for a larger pot, insisting that its price be 6 yen--exactly double the amount he’d paid for the small pot.

The man then says to the shop manager: “I paid 3 yen for the small pot, but since I’m returning the pot that was priced at 3 yen, the total amount is 6 yen. So I don't have to pay any more.”

By saying so, he leaves the shop with the new big pot without making additional payment.

The helplessness with which the unfortunate shop manager is smooth-talked into being scammed is comical.

Speaking of smooth talk, Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the former Unification Church (now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification), put up an extraordinarily glib performance at his news conference on Nov. 7.

But as I kept listening to him closely, I became increasingly confused, just like the hapless shop manager in the rakugo story.

To be sure, Tanaka bowed and said, “I apologize from the bottom of my heart.” However, he explained that what he expressed was not an “apology.”

And I was further stunned when he said he would not casually use the word “victims” because it is not clear what they were victims of.

Then, what did Tanaka apologize for, and to whom? Why did he even hold the news conference? It is all beyond comprehension.

In a nutshell, I suppose his purpose was to fight back against government deliberations regarding the order to dissolve the church by denying the “organizational, malicious and continuous” nature of donations being made to the church.

In fact, Tanaka stated that the root of the problem lay in the “excesses” of the faithful and that this had nothing to do with the way the church was organized.

Eloquence makes for easy-to-comprehend listening. But what happens if the listener just swallows everything?

I recall hearing that seasoned gamblers can roll the dice exactly in their favor. This has given birth to the Japanese expression “omou tsubo,” which literally translates as “the pot one wishes for” but means “getting someone to play right into your hand.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 9

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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