Instead, they snipe at his foreign minister, the redoubtable MakikoTanaka, a woman whose outspokenness is unsettling those who prefer Japan's usual ultra-cautious diplomacy.
MakikoTanaka, the foreign minister at the time, accused Mr Suzuki, an excitable politician from Hokkaido, a northern island, who appears to have great sway with mandarins in the foreign ministry, of blocking the aid groups (supposedly because they had criticised the government) and tampering in ministry matters.