Rodents Rule Japan Premier’s Home

T O K Y O, Sept. 1 -- There is no place like home for the prime minister of Japan — even when it is infested with mice and cockroaches and has mildew running down the walls. Not to mention the ghosts.

“I can hardly believe that people can actually live here,” Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said of his official residence in an interview with Japanese media. “I see mice running about.

“It’s like a bad business hotel,” he grumbled.

“Even if I stop breathing, no one would notice,” said Mori,worried that there was only one overnight secretary on duty.

Previous complaints about the official residence have included mildew on the walls. One prime minister’s wife protested bitterly about large cockroaches in the bathroom.

Mori also said the residence, built in 1929 and the site of several bloody incidents, turns spooky at times.

In 1932, young military officers burst in and killed then Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai, shooting him in the face.

Another group of military extremists seized the residence and other government buildings in 1936 in an attempted coup d’etat, killing two ministers and a high-ranking official.

“It’s like a haunted house,” Mori said.

A new official residence is now being built next to the current site, and is due to be completed in 2002.