For Tokyo's bemused U.S. residents it was hard to believe that they were living in the same city that only six months ago had turned out thousands of screaming demonstrators against "U.S. imperialism." As more than 56 million Japanese voters prepared to go to elect a new Diet this week, the most idolized politician in the country was a 43-year-old American—President-elect John F. Kennedy.
A bar on Tokyo's gaudy Ginza was early in recognizing the onrush of another of the overnight emotional flip-flops characteristic of Japan's volatile people. It celebrated Kennedy's election with free beer for all males who...
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