TOKYO
WANT to know what Japanese Interior Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi had for breakfast despite a weight problem, or who he took a bath with?
No use searching the mainstream media or even the tabloid press.
Mr Haraguchi tells it all on Twitter, the social media network that is enjoying a boom in Japan.
Also described as a micro-blog service, Twitter allows participants to talk about what they are doing or what is on their minds in "tweets" that are limited to 140 characters in length.
"This left-over curry is really good," Mr Haraguchi wrote in a tweet at breakfast on Tuesday morning. "I'm having a double helping! My weight is 76.5 kg, according to the weighing machine. But I'm told it's broken. I want to believe so."
Last month, he waxed poignantly about getting into the bath with his young daughter.
He tweeted: "She said to me, 'Otosan ("Papa"), very soon we may resent having a bath together.' So I asked her timidly, 'May I?' She replied, 'OK. I will scrub your back for you.' In another 3 months' time, maybe we won't be doing this anymore."
Mr Haraguchi tweets about 20 to 25 times a day, much of it work-related, like who he meets or what he is about to do next. But he has also written about new policy ideas on his mind that have not yet been reported in the press.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been on the Twitter bandwagon since New Year's Day. He does not upload his tweets himself at the computer or using a cell phone, but depends on his secretary to do so.
As to be expected, Mr Hatoyama's tweets are usually very tame. For security reasons, he can't even reveal where he is or where he is going next.
But even though Mr Hatoyama doesn't tweet often – just once or twice a day – he seems to get quite a bit of feedback from tweets addressed to him by ordinary Japanese.
On Jan 31, Mr Hatoyama tweeted: "It's already a month since I started on Twitter. I am delighted to read the comments you all send me. Of course, some of you send me brickbats too. But I will take note of all of them."
By a recent count, about 40 Japanese lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition, and from the national and local governments, are tweeting on a regular basis. That's not a big number certainly, considering that there are 722 lawmakers in both houses of parliament alone.
But those that do tweet are making a bit of a splash.
One of the most prolific tweeters is Mr Ichita Yamamoto, an Upper House member from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who tweets about 50 times a day on average.
Tweeting about a meeting he had with a Singapore diplomat on Tuesday, Mr Yamamoto wrote: "We had a 50-minute discussion. He can really talk! He has an extremely quick mind! But speaking in English really tires me out."
Mr Yamamoto also tweets regularly during meetings that he attends, giving a blow-by-blow account of what’s happening.
Once after such a meeting, reporters rushed up to him and said: "Mr Yamamoto, we already know what happened during the meeting from your tweets. All we need now is your personal comment!"
Many Japanese however seem to be put off by Twitter. The word "tweet" is translated as "tsubuyaki" in Japanese. It is not clear who did the translation but many people agree that it is an unfortunate choice of word.
"Tsubuyaki" means "murmur", as in saying something to oneself in a low voice.
Because of the slightly negative connotations of the word "tsubuyaki", many Japanese have a less than positive image of Twitter.
Last month, opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki of the LDP declared that he will never go on Twitter.
"It is not in my character to 'murmur'," he told reporters. "If I have something to say, I want to make my points clearly."
If Mr Tanigaki had bothered to test-drive Twitter, however, he would have discovered – just like the PM and other Japanese politicians – that what people have to say in their tweets is usually far from being a murmur.