This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

The governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, has apologised after suggesting that the tsunami that has so far claimed at least 3,000 lives was "divine punishment" for the "egoism" of the Japanese people.

Ishihara, a conservative who will seek a fourth consecutive term as governor next month, retracted the remarks and offered a "deep apology".

The 78-year-old, who has a history of making offensive remarks, apologised after a rebuke from the governor of Miyagi prefecture, where the death toll is expected to climb to at least 10,000.

On Monday, Ishihara said: "Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism. We need to use the tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has attached itself like rust to the mentality of the Japanese people over a long period of time."

He went on to describe the disaster as "tembatsu" - divine punishment - but added: "I do feel sorry for the victims."

Ishihara is not the only public figure to have offered unhinged explanations for the disaster.

The rightwing radio talk show host and TV presenter Glenn Beck said the earthquake could be a "message from God".

Speaking on his radio show on Monday, Beck said: "I'm not saying God is, you know, causing earthquakes," but added: "I'm not not saying that either."

Beck, whose ultra-conservative rants and conspiracy theories have triggered speculation that he will be dumped by Fox News this year, said: "There's a message being sent. And that is, 'Hey, you know that stuff we're doing? Not really working out real well. Maybe we should stop doing some of it.' I'm just saying."

Other hosts were guilty of getting their priorities badly wrong. The CNBC host Larry Kudlow was discussing the tsunami's impact on US markets last Friday when a screen graphic signalled the death toll was likely to exceed 1,000.

"The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll, and we can be grateful for that," Kudlow said, quickly adding: "The human toll is a tragedy; we know that. But these markets, all these markets - stocks, commodities, oil, gold - there is no major breakout or breakdown."

He later apologised on Twitter: "I did not mean to say human toll in Japan less important than economic toll. Talking about markets. I flubbed the line. Sincere apology."