"...a taboo, so nobody wanted to touch it," said Mr. Oshima, a Democratic Party member, who talks freely because he is backed by one of Japan's largest lay Buddhist movements.

This reminds me of a long-standing bafflement.

In the late 1970s I was involved in campaigning against the construction of the Torness nuclear reactor near Edinburgh, and spent some time at a camp on the site. One of the people who joined us was a Nichiren Buddhist monk who used to walk around the countryside (or attach himself to demos) chanting "Name Myoho Renge Kyo" and banging a fan drum. He had a couple of pals along at times, and it seemed like whatever British presence the sect had was solidly anti-nuclear.

What I have since found out about Nichiren Buddhism is that it's some sort of quasi-fascist nationalist ideology in relgious garb - its most political manifestation being Soka Gakkai, which is more or less to Shinto what the Masons are to Christianity. A ruthless network within corporate capitalism. You would hardly expect them to oppose anything the technocratic elite had planned.

So what gives? How did those Nichiren guys end up on our side of the fence? And what is Mr Oshima up to?