"I can't get any alcohol in here, which I think is also bad for my health. I say that quite seriously. I think alcohol in moderation is very good for your body. Alcohol in moderation is very good for your health. It has a cleansing effect on your body, an antiseptic effect. It has many benefits. It's good for your heart and so on," Fischer told Radio DZRH in the Philippines in the second of two separate interviews given on New Year's Eve and Jan. 17 and listed on the Internet overnight. "They don't allow alcohol, but they allow cigarettes. And they give the people cigarettes, tax-free. So the people are smoking like chimneys in here."
Fischer, in detention while he fights on a series of fronts to avoid being returned to the U.S. where he faces trial as a sanctions breaker for playing chess, occasionally sounded weary and admitted feeling under the weather.
"I'm very dizzy. I've been very dizzy the last two months. I'm very dizzy now as I'm talking to you," he said as he opened the second interview listed on the Internet overnight.
He blamed his state on the air conditioning at the detention center, which he said is noisy, but left inmates unbearably cold if turned off. He also repeated complaints he has made about the center's close proximity to Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, scene of Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident in 1999 and a series of minor mishaps at various times since.
At other times, Fischer seemed almost jovial, noting that he was the oldest of the roughly 500 male and female inmates at the center. He noted that he is free to make phone calls and is occasionally let out of his cell upon request.
Once, Fischer even broke in to a raspy voiced rendition of the 1965 Barry McGuire hit "Eve of Destruction," silencing the unnamed female DJ when she tried to ask him a question mid-song.
"Let me finish. This is cute," Fischer said before going on to finish the song from 40 years ago. Fischer's efforts may not win him a Grammy, but his recollection of the lyrics was word perfect, suggesting he retains the phenomenal memory for which he was famous in his heyday.
Fischer also drew comparisons between his case - arrested in July last year by officials at Narita Airport for using what they claimed was a revoked U.S. passport - and that of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had no trouble making a trip to Japan without even bringing a passport when he was still just a movie star back in 1998.
"Schwarzenegger came to Japan without a passport. Period. And they didn't throw him into jail. They didn't deport him back to the U.S. They didn't even threaten him. Nothing. But me, I came into the country with a perfectly valid passport and they've thrown me into prison now for over six months. The difference between me and Schwarzenegger is Schwarzenegger is a Jew ass-kisser and I'm not," he said before the announcer and Filipino grandmaster Eugene Torre asked him another question as they did many times when Fischer appeared likely to make inflammatory comments.
Nonetheless, Fischer still criticized the land of his birth, which once hailed him as a Cold War hero following his defeat of then Soviet Boris Spassky to become World Chess Champion in 1972.
"It's very dangerous in general to make any agreement with the U.S. Because if you don't keep your part they come after you. But if they don't keep their part, so what, they just laugh at it. 'Who are you to tell the U.S. what to do?'" he said. "The world is in a terrible situation with all these nuclear power plants, nuclear bombs, pollution, wars, land mines everywhere. The U.S. should set a good example and destroy all its nuclear weapons. Unilaterally."
Fischer, however, saved his most intense criticisms for U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"This Bush is very inconsistent in his policies. He's a liar, he's a crook. One thing he's very consistent about - he wants to kill or imprison all his enemies. That he's very consistent on and the U.S. is very consistent on," Fischer said.
Later, Fischer would slam Japan, too.
"This country is completely corrupt. Koizumi is a war criminal. He should be hung," Fischer said before Torre and the announcer quickly piped up to stop him from saying anything further.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a parliamentary committee in Iceland talked about giving Fischer citizenship, with one lawmaker predicting he would get it.
Gurun Ogumundsdottir, a member of the parliamentary panel discussing a petition to grant Fischer Icelandic citizenship, said the chess champion would probably get his wish.
"Usually these things are settled with unanimous vote, but in this case a majority might suffice, and it seems to me the majority is in favor of granting citizenship," Ogumundsdottir told the AP.
Iceland, scene of Fischer's triumph over Spassky 33 years ago, offered Fischer residency last month, expressing a willingness to accept him even without a passport. However, the Justice Ministry has refused to let Fischer leave Japan, even though it is fighting a court case with him over a deportation order issued last August.
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has admitted talking to Japan and Iceland about Fischer. Iceland has reportedly refused a U.S. government request to rescind its offer of help to Fischer. (By Ryann Connell, Mainichi Daily News, Jan. 29, 2005)
