JAPAN: Genro

An old, old man sat in his house on Tokyo's Surugadai last week while the affairs of Japan slipped through his gnarled fingers. He was Prince Kimmochi Saionji, 92, the last of the Genro (Elder States-men). He was commander-in-chief of an Imperial Army at the age of 19. Nine years later he saw the end of feudalism in Japan, the beginnings of constitutional government. He has been Minister to Austria and Berlin. At the age of 79 he served as Japan's delegate to the Versailles...