fpb | You couldn't make it up dept no.90: practical lessons for farmers

So there is this region of Japan called the Shizuoka prefecture, which is very prosperous. Prosperous to the point that it felt that the 97 airports already in use in Japan were not enough; it wanted one of its own, built to intercontinental standards.

Fair enough, one might think. Shizuoka prefecture is reported to have a GDP equal to that of Portugal or Thailand, so one supposes that it can use direct international transportation without having to go through Tokyo (which is some 150 Km, or 90 miles, north of Shizuoka prefecture as the crow flies). However, the designers made a crass and inexcusable mistake: they got the runway's length wrong, and missed out 153 trees owned by a local tea farmer, Mr. Toshimi Ohoi.

Mr.Ohoi is public-spirited, and did not object to his trees being bought and cut down for the good of the prefecture. However, since the planning process had been a complete botch, he put one condition: the Governor had to go. Someone had to pay for the incompetence of the prefectural authorities.

The farmer put his astonishing condition in September 2008. The immensely expensive project had to be frozen, just as the economic crisis bled wealth out of Japan. The authorities began to tear their hair out in despair. By May 16, it had become clear that Mr.Ohoi was ready to fight it all the way to the highest court; on May 18, it was announced that the Governor would step down and that prefectural elections would be held in July. Score one for the principled tea farmer.

(Information from the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, May 19)