Shoichi Nakagawa, who slurred his speech and dozed off at a finance meeting focusing on the world’s economic mess, messes up his life. One must ask: How many other lives did he mess up?
Former Japanese finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa, 56, found by his wife lying face down in bed in their Tokyo home, dead of uncertain causes but with “numerous anomalies in his cardiovascular system as well as the presence of alcohol,” according to the Tokyo metropolitan police department. Nakagawa was a “runner-up” in the February-April 2009 edition of TAR, having slurred his speech and repeatedly appeared to doze off at a meeting of finance ministers focusing on the world’s economic mess, followed by a bizarre visit to the Vatican Museums in which he touched various exhibits that mere mortals like the rest of us would never dream of getting too close to (take a look at this and you’ll understand why). Oh, and according to Wikipedia, “Nakagawa had been known for his extremely heavy drinking since a young age. A [Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry] bureaucrat, who was a fellow of Nakagawa’s, witnessed Nakagawa drunk frequently, especially before hosting big political conferences.”