Remember those bluegills the Emperor was apologizing for a few days back?  Guess where they came from:  according to the Chicagoist website, right here in Chicago.  The donor was none other than the Boss, Mayor Richard J. Daley.  The Chicago machine meets the Imperial Household Agency.  My goodness, the world really is filled with wonders....



[Update:  It wasn't just bluegills!  Time magazine in its Oct. 10, 1960 issue reported that during the Crown Prince's New York City stopover, "Akihito, a noted ichthyophile, dashed a block away to a commercial aquarium-stock store, purchased some rare breeds of fish (imported to await his arrival) and arranged for them to be aboard his chartered plane when he flies back fo Tokyo this week."  This was shortly before he paid a call on retired Gen. Douglas MacArthur.  So what happened to those "rare breeds"?  Is there another palace fish scandal in the offing?  Stay tuned, folks.] 



[UPDATE TWO (11/29/07):  Here's a John Kass column from the Chicago Tribune, including a photograph of the crime and suggestions for how the current Chicago mayor, Richard M. Daley, might take responsibility for Japan's bluegill infestation]

(Photo of Mayor Daley greeting President Nixon in public domain from Knudsen/National Archives)