JAPAN: Bonus to Be Wisely Spent

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The logical result is the signing this week of the revised U.S.-Japanese Treaty. As Prime Minister Kishi and U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter put their signatures to paper, there is every prospect that Japan and the U.S. will stand together in the Pacific for years to come. What is not so certain is how long Kishi will survive as Prime Minister. There is no tradition of lasting leadership in Japan, and the Liberal-Democratic Party is little more than a coalition of eight major factions, each with its own leader. "They are like a pack of wolves," says a Western observer. "If Kishi is hurt, the others smell blood, and will pile in, snarling, hoping to gain some advantage."

In these terms the new U.S. -Japanese Treaty may well be Kishi's monument, even if in the rough and tumble of Japanese politics it should also become in time his political tombstone. Prime Minister Kishi himself remains serenely optimistic, as befits a man who follows the philosophy of the "blue mountain in the distance." He explains: "The road to the mountain is obscured by many foothills. Some of these must be climbed, some must be gone around, and a good road must be built as the advance proceeds. In some places there will be short cuts, but in general the going will be rough." Rough or smooth, short cut or direct path, Kishi on his record, can be depended upon to keep climbing.