Tremblings

Under the U.S. quake rumbling up from the south, the Government in Tokyo trembled like a seismograph's needle. For the fourth time in three weeks Premier General Kuniaki Koiso, who is dubbed "The Tiger" and has a catlike talent for landing on his political feet, again shuffled his feet and his Cabinet. He accepted the resignation of portly, aging (68) Admiral Seizo Kobayashi, lover of bridge, ex-governor of Formosa, onetime naval commander in chief, and president of the powerful Imperial Rule Assistance Political Society (Japan's totalitarian party). The Admiral did not sail into retirement. He tacked away on a new job : creating a new, really total, totalitarian party — which might mean either a purge of IRAPS or a mere face-saving operation.

Premier Koiso graciously accepted a petition from the Diet's fretful representatives and peers; i.e., he agreed to a demand for an emergency , session to discuss the "extremely serious" war situation, promised a "detailed and clear report."

No other Premier in Japanese history had been able to stay in office through so many national disasters. But Koiso had stayed, perhaps because Japan did not want to acknowledge her serious plight before the world and because his ousting would have to be made to look like another "strengthening" of the Government. If Koiso fell, what successor would sound strengthening? The international grapevine mentioned two well-known names:

¶Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto, bullyboy and cloak-&-dagger man, who in 1936 took part in the bloody coup against the Government. In 1937 he ordered the bombing of the U.S.S. Panay. His motto: "Watch me, Hashimoto. I am no man to sit and talk."

¶Prince Naruhiko Higashi Kuni, distant cousin of Emperor Hirohito, commander of Japanese forces which raped Nanking, Home Defense Chief who in 1942 threatened to execute captured U.S. airmen "if guilty of inhumanities." But no imperial prince has ever headed a Japanese Government. If Higashi Kuni broke the precedent, it might still all opposition, since no voice would dare cry out against an imperial prince. Such a move would also make it impossible for the imperial family to evade responsibility for ultimate defeat. Or the last-minute choice might be someone else. Japan was going through the political wringer—probably not for the last time before the war ends.