Age Limit Bugs Japanese Legislator
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From Times Wire Reports
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone abandoned plans to run for reelection to parliament and marked the occasion by writing a haiku.
Pressed to bow out by a new age limit, 83-year-old Nakasone read aloud his poem at a news conference to declare his political career was not over:
With dusk yet to come
Cicada persists in song
While it still has life.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged Nakasone to retire last week, citing a new Liberal Democratic Party policy barring people over 73 to run for the type of seat Nakasone holds.
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