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TOKYO -- In Renzo's Pub, an upscale dive on the Tokyo waterfront, the
odds are almost even money that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will soon make
another of his notorious verbal gaffes.
The prime minister's elocution and penchant for misstatement have
become a betting matter around town. But some habitues of Renzo's and
other neo-cosmopolitan bars find Mr. Mori's slips of the tongue
somewhat endearing.
"The big guy (Mori is a part-time rugby player) is one of us; we can
identify with him," said Tadao
Matsumoto, who has been tending bar at Renzo's for eight years since giving
up a career as a merchant seaman.
Another customer, dark-suited insurance salesman Koichi Tacibana,
placed his laptop computer on the counter and ordered a Kirin beer. "He may
just be the strongman-in-disguise political leader Japanese have been
looking for all these years."
It is still too early to identify a groundswell of sympathy for Mr.
Mori's unrehearsed earthiness, but it is something to watch. An Asahi
Shimbun survey conducted over last weekend showed that
only 26 percent of voters in the June 25 trusted Mr. Mori.
The media has been unrelenting in its criticism of his style. The first
approval polls after the naming of his cabinet July 4 will give a better
indication of what the public really thinks of Mr.Mori.
One leading analyst and Mainichi Shimbun columnist has already
predicted that Mr. Mori's departure following some future scandal or
verbal misstep is not a question of "if" but "when."
Summit sherpas have already scripted most of the moves and remarks for
the July 21-23 G-8 Summit in Okinawa and foreign ministry officials are
confident Mr. Mori will do alright as long as he does not try to
improvise and say something that reflects his nostalgia for Japan's wartime
imperialism.
He came under fire for saying that Japan is a "divine nation" which
sparked anger in South Korea and China because his words recalled the
prewar regime centered on the emperor.
Another slip of the tongue occurred during the recent election
campaign when Mr.Mori said of undecided voters "If they still have no
interest in the election, it would be all right if they just slept on
that day."
And on several occasions recently he has referred to the G-8 Summit
as "the Expo."
One of the prime minister's revelations, though not a verbal gaffe,
caused Mr. Mori to be identified broadly with some workers who are not
"computer literate."
Heading the list of G-8 agenda items is information technology and the
"digital divide" between nations already benefiting from the Internet
revolution and those lagging behind.
Mr. Mori admitted that he had no hands on a computer keyboard until
during the recent election campaign.
A headline in one Tokyo English-language newspaper said "Mori's mouth
faces tests with G-8,
North Korea, Russia."
The accompanying article told of foreign ministry officials' concern
over the Prime Minister's choice of words as he leads the cabinet into
three challenges requiring precise diplomatic language.
"Our best interpreters can only cover up so much in the way of
misstatements," one of the officials said, anonymously.
The challenges facing the Mori cabinet are, first of all, the G-8
Summit itself.
The second challenge to Mr. Mori is Japan's effort to normalize ties
with North Korea. This subject is an emotional and historical minefield.
The third challenge Mr.Mori faces in upcoming weeks requiring precise
diplomatic language is the
official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the start of
September. Putin's visit will be the first by a Russian President since
President Boris Yeltsin's 1998 visit.
Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.