Word: kaifu
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...Reagan and Bush administrations have helped too. Former Secretary of State George Shultz raised the issue repeatedly. James Baker and most of his senior deputies have done the same. During a meeting in California in April, President George Bush told Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu that the end of the gulf war "might be an opportunity for Japan to have closer relations with Israel." Kaifu agreed, adding that the Arab boycott was "undesirable." Vice President Dan Quayle, who met with Kaifu in Tokyo last week, pressed for more steps in the right direction...
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...
...L.D.P. fiasco has stirred speculation that Kaifu's days may be numbered -- or at the very least that his chances of re-election next October are doomed. "Without Ozawa in one of the party top posts, Kaifu could be a lame- duck Prime Minister," observed a Japanese politician. Others speculate that Ozawa's sudden downfall might trigger the comeback of former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, still considered one of the most powerful politicians in Japan despite his resignation two years ago over an influence- peddling scandal...
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...