Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama found himself in hot water Monday after telling reporters that he has an acquaintance who was a friend of an al-Qaida terrorist involved in the October 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia.
"A friend of a friend of mine is a member of al-Qaida," Hatoyama said during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, adding the terrorist, who had given the friend prior warning not to go near Bali, was suspected of repeatedly entering Japan in the following years.
Hatoyama made the remark as he was explaining Japan's new immigration procedures, which will require foreigners to provide fingerprints and photographs upon entering the country.