Do Not Overdo

Old Emperor Meiji's classic Shinto ghost would toss about in dismay inside the quiet Meiji Shrine, if it knew what was happening at the Diet building a few miles away. Though some might say that Japanese politics there were being run according to the familiar prewar stage directions, there were certainly unexpected faces in several of the leading roles. Tetsu Katayama, the new Socialist Premier, is the Presbyterian grandson of a Shinto priest. Jiichiro Matsumoto, vice chairman of the Diet's upper house, is one of Japan's Eta* "untouchables." The new Cabinet Secretary, smart Socialist Strategist Suehiro Nishio, is a former steel worker.

Although the Socialists have infiltrated the ranks of the old conservative politicians, their arrival will probably have few drastic results. To persuade right-center Democrats to enter a coalition Cabinet, Socialists sacrificed most of their Socialism.

Symbol of his party's present mood is penguin-shaped Katayama. "Middle of the road" were the words with which General MacArthur approved him; "Do not overdo it" is Katayama's favorite motto. He carries an umbrella, calls himself a Fabian and has as little as possible to do with Kyuichi Tokuda's Communist Party. During Diet sessions, he can be seen, surrounded by Japanese newsmen, eating a lunch of rice and radish from a plain aluminum lunchbox. After the day's deliberations, he drives himself home in a stubby midget car.

Most Japanese regard Katayama as a not-too-strong, neutral character--"neither poison nor medicine"--and doubt that his Cabinet will do much. The new coalition has already made its unhappy mark on protocol-happy Imperial Household officials. At this week's formal investiture, several Ministers showed up without dress coats,

*In feudal times Japan's Eta were a semi-slave class of undetermined origin entrusted with the tanning, butchering of animals and other traditionally degrading tasks. Although legal restrictions against them were removed in 1871, Japan's 3,000,000 Eta are still social outcasts, generally live by themselves in ghettolike settlements.

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