Litigious excess not limited to the US

Francophones sue Ishihara over anti-French comments | The Japan Times Online:

"The 74 plaintiffs, including foreign nationals residing in France and Canada, are each demanding compensation of 50,000 yen and a public apology from the metro government.

"In a meeting with support organizations of Tokyo Metropolitan University in October 2004, Ishihara said, 'French is disqualified as an international language because it is a language that cannot count numbers,' according to the suit."

Gov. Ishihara seems to be a lightning rod for this sort of abuse of the legal system. It's one thing to call a press conference and demand an apology just to embarass your political opponents, but slapping them with law suits and demanding money seems excessive to me.