Japan's newest Communists are a motley bunch.

There is Ikuko Kosodate, a mother of 10 with fierce-looking eyebrows and a baby strapped to her back. She is "planning to have one more child and then start a family soccer team in the future,'' according to the Communist party website. There is Master Poken, a strict disciplinarian. And then there is Yoko, a "mysterious" 25-year-old job hopper who "always wears sunglasses and a trench coat, and is rumored to hide a whip inside her coat.''

...