The Emperor Regrets

As long ago as 1921, when he was still Crown Prince, Japan's Emperor Hirohito told American visitors that he "cherished a desire to visit the United States and to meet and learn to know her people." More recently, Japanese governments have argued that a visit by the Emperor, now 72, would be a fitting way for the country to express its thanks to the U.S. for its postwar aid.

The trip, of course, would be followed by a similarly ceremonial journey to Japan by the U.S. President. Richard Nixon, who would very much like to be the first incumbent American head of state to visit Japan, sent Henry Kissinger to Tokyo last June with word that he would be happy to welcome Hirohito in the U.S. this fall. Last week, however, the Japanese Foreign Ministry regretfully announced that the imperial visit would have to be "postponed" --probably, it seemed, forever.

The public explanation was that Hirohito, whose October calendar is crowded with such events as a national athletic meet in Chiba prefecture and the 60th dedication of the Ise Shrine,* is simply too busy to make the trip this year. In fact, the imperial regrets were yet another sign of the internal political troubles besetting the eight-month-old Liberal Democratic regime headed by Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka (see box).

Tanaka's Communist and Socialist opposition charged that the Emperor was being made a political tool of the government in power in violation of the constitution. Within Tanaka's own party, there was evidently trouble from former Premier Eisaku Sato. Sato reportedly had thought that he. rather than Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira, an old rival, should be accorded the honor of escorting Hirohito and the Empress Nagako to the U.S. Although Sato denied it, Japanese press reports maintained that, when he was turned down, the former Premier began stirring up doubts about the trip within the Imperial Household Agency, which manages Hirohito's official life with jealous zeal. In the end, the agency doomed the visit by ruling that it was miring the Emperor in unseemly controversy. There were also fears that Hirohito, who suffered a dizzy spell on a recent trip to Kyushu, would not be up to the rigors of a tour through the U.S.

The Tanaka government was not only embarrassed by the cancellation but fearful that it might be interpreted in Washington as an anti-U.S. snub. Though the episode did cloud Nixon's hopes of paying a visit to Japan in 1974, the Administration saw the unfortunate affair as merely the latest indication of the Tanaka government's slipping ability to govern.

In addition to the imperial-visit fiasco, Tanaka last week was embarrassed by a paralyzing outbreak of labor unrest. It began with a subway slowdown, which led to commuter violence as frustrated riders wrecked ticket machines and smashed car windows in 30 Tokyo stations. Next day, some 3,000,000 workers in 36 unions in transportation and other fields walked off their jobs, snarling rail traffic and causing monumental highway jams. The trains began moving again at week's end, when the government promised to study the union demands, which included the lifting of a ban on strikes by government employees. As Tokyo Political Pundit Isamu Wakamatsu said last week, the unions seem to sense that "this is the best time to hit Tanaka and keep on hitting, now that his popularity is on the wane."

* A solemn Shinto rite, which takes place every 20 years, honoring the sun goddess from whom the imperial family is said to have descended.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.