Politicians often get elected because of promises they make. In his one term as governor of Tokyo, comedian Yukio Aoshima didn't accomplish anything noteworthy, but he did keep the one promise that got him elected: He canceled the World City Exposition that many constituents thought would be a waste of tax money.

Aoshima's administration ended in 1999 and is mostly forgotten, which is understandable given that he was a modest politician and his successor, Shintaro Ishihara, now in his second term, is a media hog. Ishihara didn't have to make promises. His status as an award-winning novelist, brother of the most popular dead actor in Japan, and the country's loudest chauvinist mischief-maker guaranteed him the governor's seat.

Unlike Aoshima, Ishihara wants a legacy, which is why he keeps coming up with big projects. His latest scheme is to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to the capital. A man who believes in the power of eyebrow-raising pronouncements, Ishihara isn't satisfied with the kind of civic boosterism that municipal leaders fall back on when they undertake such a project. To him, the Olympics in Tokyo will do nothing less than spark a spiritual reawakening of Japan, which he sees as mired in a malaise brought about by the demands of a materialist world and reinforced by a media that is obsessed with bad news.