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Listen now to what many Japanese are saying. After much hesitancy and throat clearing, speaker after speaker expresses a desire for a peaceful world that builds prosperity. What raises that commonplace above banality is the obvious sincerity behind it; repeated often enough, it could almost serve as an embryonic creed for modern Japan. Takeshita talks of creating an international furusato (hometown). Speaking in Chicago after last week's summit, he pledged Japan's cooperation in "helping to resolve and prevent conflicts" between nations and vowed that Japan would play an international role commensurate with its financial strength.
So far, that has meant funneling funds into foreign aid. Tokyo reasons that it can increase global security by redistributing part of its wealth. "Economic aid is security aid," concurs Gaston Sigur, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The giving also reflects a Japanese effort to make up for past omissions. "We do believe that we have not done enough over the years," says Ryuichiro Yamazaki, a Foreign Ministry official. Of course, like most aid donors, Japan does well by doing good: people with money in their pockets will spend it on their products.
But even giving has its problems. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci irritated his Tokyo hosts last month by calling for increased Japanese aid to nations that he termed vital to "our collective security." Carlucci named * the Philippines as one such country and added Turkey, Portugal, Pakistan and Afghanistan to the list. The appalled Japanese disavowed any ties between aid to the Philippines and American interests. Filipinos, however, scarcely doubt that recent Japanese donations have been partly aimed at inducing Manila to renew the leases on U.S. bases on favorable terms.
Japan is also growing more active on the diplomatic front. On a Middle East tour last week, Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno became the first Japanese Cabinet minister to visit Israel; heavily dependent on oil imports, Japan had long snubbed Israel to keep favor with the Arab states. In early June the Japanese offered to mediate a Vietnamese withdrawal from Kampuchea.
Tokyo now plans to dispatch a civilian to be a member of the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan -- the first time a Japanese will participate in such an operation. Immediately after Moscow announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Takeshita pledged $5 million to finance U.N. efforts there and promised to send workers to help transport refugees and rebuild telephone lines. When Hiroshi Nakajima moves up to head the World Health Organization next month, he will become the first Japanese to lead a major international organization. Though Japan would welcome an invitation to become the sixth permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Tokyo remains acutely embarrassed by its failure in 1978 to win the nonpermanent Asian seat on the council.
But many qualified Japanese seem reluctant to take jobs with international groups lest they slip a rung on the competitive career ladder at home. Though Japan buys about half the bonds issued by the World Bank, for example, few Japanese can be found in key positions there. The Japanese Finance Ministry, in fact, has been forced to set quotas of young staffers that Japanese banks must send to such international institutions.