JAPAN: 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,...

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