|
TOKYO -- Like just about everybody else, the Japanese can’t
figure out what to do about Iraq.
As America’s ally, they’d like to send troops to help
out, but they’d prefer international cover, such as a U.N.
resolution, not yet forthcoming. Though domestic legislation permitting
dispatch of what the Japanese term ‘‘self-defense forces’’
(i.e., troops) is in effect, the public wants to stay out of this
mess. Past politicians would have punted, citing ‘‘domestic
difficulties’’ while scribbling out a check for a billion
dollars to salve their conscience and mollify U.S. critics. But
when I recently asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi point-blank
if Japan will send troops to Iraq, the frothy-haired politician
stared me straight in the eye, as he did throughout the 45-minute
interview, and said: ‘‘Yes.’’
Japan has a different kind of prime minister. He meets the press,
answers questions, makes decisions, charms the ladies, cracks jokes
and is anything but boring. Whether he’ll be able to pull
off Japan’s needed economic reform remains the gazillion-yen
question.
Our interview took place in the new Kantei, the PM’s official
residence. The old PM building was stuffy; this one is a sunny splash
of pastel colors, panoptic panels of glass and open spaces. It’s
a breath of
fresh air -- much like Koizumi himself: bouncy bachelor, spiffy
dresser, blunt speaker and (never to be underestimated in politics)
lucky son-of-a-gun.
Finally, the economy may be shaking off its extended hibernation.
Between April and June it grew at a rate faster than the U.S.’s
(for the first time in 13 years) as consumers are starting to spend
again. And
Japan’s diplomacy seems reborn -- thanks to Koizumi’s
bold trip to North Korea a year ago that produced the Pyongyang
Declaration, a precursor to the six-party talks in Beijing aimed
at preventing war.
Since taking
office two years ago, Koizumi has been counted out more than the
Japanese economy. Yet today his public-opinion approval rating hovers
at a healthy 50 percent -- high by post-war Japan standards. Koizumi
is a gifted mass communicator in a TV age when visuals are, for
better or worse, vital to governance.
Koizumi denies he’s all for show. ‘‘I believe
it is not possible to try to communicate to the public without having
the conviction that what I am about to do is necessary and correct,’’
he said, speaking in Japanese, though well understanding my questions
in English. ‘‘If there is any difference between myself
and other politicians in the LDP, I am convinced it was that, ever
since I was elected, I’ve always thought from the perspective
of what is necessary for the country as a whole, not just for my
political party.’’
Koizumi hails politically from the Liberal Democratic Party, the
muscle-bound octopus that up to now has locked its arms around any
reform threatening its various feudal cash-machines. ‘‘I
have found it necessary to speak to the public in general,’’
explained Koizumi, ‘‘not just to the party organization
.... I have no intention of just defending the party.’’
Even so, on Sept. 20, this career politician is odds-on to be reelected
as president of LDP, the largest party in the Diet and the kingmaker
of PMs. Three more years in Kantei seems likely now. Insisted Koizumi:
‘‘What’s really important is trust -- to try to
do what you think is necessary and right for the country.’’
Koizumi’s effortless ebullience will also help smooth over
the inevitable bumps ahead. ‘‘As a politician, we should
not fall into pessimism,’’ he said. We both smiled as
we recalled former President Carter’s infamous and unforgettable
‘‘malaise’’ speech that so depressed voters.
Sure, Koizumi is human and has his ups and downs, but his special
grace, like John F. Kennedy’s, is a canny sense of humor that
surfaces when least expected. One example: At a conference in Southeast
Asia, leaders sitting around the table were bogged down in dreary
discussion. Out of the blue, Koizumi, Japan’s most prominent
bachelor, piped in with a funny story about his girlfriend that
broke everyone up. Another: As health minister a few years ago,
a reporter asked if Japan should make it a priority to approve Viagra
or reduce dioxin emissions. ‘‘Personally,’’
he quipped, ‘‘Viagra.’’
The truth is, Japan’s limp economy could use a Viagra lift
-- no joke when you’re talking about the globe’s second
largest. Koizumi is no joke, either, and may be the leader Japan
has long needed. Our Texas president, when he visits Tokyo next
month, should listen to this rising political star carefully --
and not just to the one-liners. Koizumi has at least three more
years in power; George W. Bush may not. |
|
The above weekly column has just appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser,
The South China Morning Post and The Straits Times of Singapore.
The author, Tom Plate, is a regular columnist at these three papers.
The column also appears in other world newspapers, including The
San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The Japan Times and
The Korea Times. Email him at: tplate@ucla.edu.
For publication
and reprint rights, contact the author directly or John Simpson
(john.simpson@latsi.com) of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate International. |
