Word: kaifu
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Will Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu become a gulf-war casualty? That possibility was raised last week after Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party was badly jolted by the 2-to-1 defeat of its candidate for the governorship of Tokyo. The humiliating upset prompted the resignation of the party's chief political operative, Ichiro Ozawa, who took responsibility for the loss. Ruling party insiders say that Ozawa had agreed to try to prevent re-election of the L.D.P.'s incumbent governor as part of a deal with the opposition, in exchange for passage of Japan's additional $9 billion gulf...
What a difference a year makes. In March 1990 Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu came away all aglow from a meeting with President Bush in California. The two leaders claimed to have forged the basis for a new "global partnership," and Japan seemed ready to play a role in world politics corresponding to its ever expanding economic power. Kaifu affirmed his commitment: "I am determined that Japan must be one of the countries to bear the responsibility for maintaining and strengthening international order...
This week Kaifu will travel once again to California for meetings with Bush, but he is no longer glowing. He is all too well aware of American displeasure with Japan's failure to live up to expectations during the gulf war. Not only did Tokyo prove unable to muster even noncombatant participation in the conflict, but its purse also seemed as hard to crack as a Republican Guard bunker. The Japanese felt chastened by Bush's postponement of a spring visit to Tokyo while the President and Secretary of State James Baker undertook a round of meetings with leaders from...
...Kaifu-Bush meeting is intended to demonstrate that nothing is really wrong between the two allies, despite the rise in the emotional temperature. "These meetings let the public know what the national leaders think about the importance of the relationship," says a State Department official, who added that it might "turn people's attitudes away from emotions and toward our fundamental interests." Nevertheless, there could be tough going ahead, not only in bilateral trade negotiations but also in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade talks, where Japan has sided with Europe in protecting domestic agriculture...
...conflicting demands that have swept the country since the gulf crisis began. Japanese leaders have been torn between a constitutional ban against military action and allied insistence that the economic superpower contribute massive financial support, if not troops, to the war effort. Under these pressures, | Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu has pledged a total of $13 billion to the U.S.-led allied campaign...