Picking a New Premier

"Sato is liked by business executives," observed a Tokyo industrialist. "Kono is liked by barbers and taxi drivers." Both men -- Eisaku Sato, 63, and Ichiro Kono, 66 -- are even more warmly admired by rival factions of the ruling Conservative-Liberal Party. Last week they became hot rivals in a power struggle for the premiership of Japan. Their opportunity came when Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda, who has been hospitalized for eight weeks with a throat tumor, handed in his resignation.

"Three Pillars." Ikeda will be missed.

At home he had dealt pliably and efficiently with the recalcitrant Socialist opposition, promoted an "income-dou bling" plan that gave Japan the world's highest growth rate and the highest standard of living in its history. On countless trips abroad, Ikeda drummed up good will and trade for postwar Japan, hammered home the idea that his country, with Western Europe and the U.S., was one of the "three pillars" supporting the unity of the free world.

"Ikeda does not lie!", intoned in a rasp ing, gravelly voice, was his slogan, and it aptly described his administration.

Of the top two rivals for the premiership, cool, conservative Eisaku Sato is the stronger. A career bureaucrat, he is backed by his brother, ex-Premier Nobusuke Kishi (who changed his last name when he was adopted into the samurai family of his wife), as well as by another influential ex-Premier, Shigeru Yoshida; Sato served effectively in both their administrations. A candidate for party president in the Conservative-Liberal elections last July, Sato lost by only ten votes to Ikeda, who had appointed him to the key Ministry of Trade and Commerce. Sato subscribes to Ikeda's policies, although he favors a more realistic defense program. Pro-American--but pointedly not "servile" to the U.S.--he feels that Japan should show more independence.

Elders' Choice. Ichiro Kono is Sato's antithesis and longtime personal foe.

A brash, impulsive go-getter who won international acclaim last month for his near-faultless performance as State Minister in charge of the Olympic Games, Kono loves to be called "oya-bun," the admiring title given to the most ruthless gangster lords in feudal Japan. Today, it symbolizes a political boss who inspires unswerving loyalty and obedience in his supporters.

If Sato and Kono are deadlocked, the most likely compromise candidate will be Aiichiro Fujiyama, 67, a sugar millionaire who was Foreign Minister in Kishi's Cabinet but does not now hold a portfolio under Ikeda. However, the last thing the Conservative-Liberals want is an eye-gouging, knee-in-groin political battle. At a party caucus last week, they voted to leave the choice of Premier up to two respected party elders rather than risk an open election. If they and the top contenders heed Ikeda's wishes, the decision will be made soon. Asking the party to choose his successor "amiably and speedily," the retiring Prime Minister urged that in view of "recent developments here and abroad," the government should "avoid causing the slightest sense of insecurity in the nation."

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