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One of Sato's most farsighted moves has been to join Asian regional groupings (TIME Essay, Feb. 3), which do not commit Japan to an aggressive foreign policy but will probably involve the country with its Asian neighbors. One organization in which Japan already has a stake is the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, whose first president is a former government finance adviser, Takeshi Watanabe, 60. With its $200 million funding toward the 32-nation bank's $1 billion capitalization, Japan matched the U.S. contribution. Said Sato: "A cornerstone is now being laid by all of us to establish a new era in Asia."
Japan's new Overseas Youth Volunteers are Asia's first Peace Corpsmen, and though they so far number fewer than 100, they represent another indicator of Sato's outward thrust. Stationed from Southeast Asia to East Africa, they are skilled in auto repair and agriculture, nursing and nutrition, use their spare time to teach such Japanese native skills as origami and karate. Despite their Asian eyes and skin color, the Japanese Peace Corpsmen find it as challenging to relate to underdeveloped Asia as do their round-eyed American counterparts. For all their own appetite for sashimi (raw fish) and sea urchin's eggs, they have difficulty stomaching such delicacies as Philippine balut, an embryonic duck egg.
Thawing the Permafrost. In his efforts to free Japan of the legacy of inaction caused by World War II's defeat, Sato has reoriented the nation's relations with both of Asia's Caucasian powers: Russia and the U.S. The Soviets still hold substantial territory in the formerly Japanese Kurils and the island of Sakhalin. Yet the two countries last year agreed to establish consulates and jointly develop (at a cost of $150 million) the natural gas reserves of Sakhalin. To thaw the permafrost in relations dating back to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-06, Tokyo and Moscow are planning an exchange of airline flights over Siberia and a possible joint effort in Siberian economic development. Still, the frost is deep, and "technical details" crop up continually.
The chief policy problem plaguing Tokyo and Washington is the Japanese public's attitude toward Viet Nam. Sato privately approves the U.S. involvement, and indeed was on the verge of sending a token number of troops to aid Saigon before the U.S. buildup and the bombing of the North began. Now, he has had to be careful. Since World War II, the Japanese have become pacifistic to the point of violence, as they showed in the 1960 riots that canceled Dwight Eisenhower's visit. The Mutual Security Treaty between the U.S. and Japan comes up for renewal in 1970, and although Sato does not anticipate a repetition of 1960's uproar, he cannot afford to give ammunition to the Japanese left by committing his nation to open support of the U.S., let alone a combat role in what most Japanese consider should be an internal Vietnamese war.
Veiled Apprehensions. If 1970 is a year that Sato views with veiled apprehensions, 1968 is one that he awaits with eagerness. Next year will mark the centennial of the Meiji Restoration, the year that Japan broke out of its feudal, introspective cocoon and entered the real world. Since that time, the four islands of Nippon have moved from an era of swordplay and armor to one of supertankers and transistors.