What, Me Worry?

Ten

years ago, early in his first term as President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori visited Japan, the birthplace of his parents. "Although I am Peruvian," he told his Japanese hosts, "I feel a tremendous emotion setting foot on Japanese soil again, the soil of my roots." Today the emotion the fugitive leader and recently minted Japanese citizen is feeling no doubt verges on profound relief.

Since the arrest this month of Fujimori's onetime spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos Torres there has been increased pressure on Japan to extradite Fujimori to answer charges of widespread corruption during his decade-long rule. But the deposed former strongman is finding Tokyo a most hospitable place to hide out. A loosely knit cadre of well-heeled conservative backers—the Society to Support Fujimori—has raised almost $1 million this year to subsidize his life in exile, setting him up in offices in the political hub of Tokyo and housing him in a series of comfy and expensive hotels and homes. They say none of Montesinos' allegedly ill-gotten gains ever reached him. "If he had any money, he wouldn't have to live the way he does," says writer Ayako Sono, who sheltered Fujimori in the early months after his November arrival.

Tell that to the Peruvians. Fujimori's ex-wife Susana Higuchi, whom he divorced and publicly smeared in 1994 when she accused the administration of financial shenanigans, told a congressional committee in Peru last week that in 1990 Fujimori siphoned off a $12 million donation from Japanese citizens, intended for poor children, and deposited the money into his personal bank account. Over the years there were accusations, all unproven and denied by Fujimori, that several nongovernmental organizations were being used as a cover to funnel money to the President. One of these groups, Apenkai, is currently under investigation by Peru's anticorruption court. Still, the chance of Fujimori's facing charges in Peru is about nil. Since his arrival, Japan has maintained that because Fujimori's parents legally registered their son's birth in their hometown, through the Japanese embassy in Peru, Peru's most wanted man is Japan's favorite son. "No matter how evil a person may be," says Noriteru Fukushima, director of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Latin America division, "it is simply against our laws to extradite a Japanese citizen."

His born-again nationality is in large part what has turned Fujimori into a cause cElebre among some of Japan's conservative political Elite. In February he was a featured guest at a dinner with 13 Diet members from three political parties and right-wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. Japanese newspapers report that Ishihara has let Fujimori use his office. Wealthy Diet member Torao Tokuda, a leading light in the Society to Support Fujimori, has helped raise money for the ex-President. Koki Ishii, another Diet member who attended the heavyweight dinner, says: "It is not a long time since I got to know him, but Mr. Fujimori is a man of honest poverty. I strongly believe he had no unlawful wealth."

Why does Fujimori generate such support? Tokuda, a flashy millionaire doctor who owns 50 hospitals and 125 clinics, insists it is born of admiration for what he accomplished in Peru. "He rebuilt the economy, decreased terrorism and, with aid from Japan, really helped a lot of poor people," he says. And that aid from Japan was sizable during Fujimori's tenure. Japanese government largesse to Peru from 1995 to 2000 totaled $528 million; low-interest loans from 1991 to 2000 amounted to $2.7 billion. That's not counting millions more in charitable donations. Sono, the writer, chairs the Nippon Foundation, a private charity with right-wing roots that raised funds to build 50 schools in Peru. She visited the country twice during Fujimori's presidency, flying on the presidential plane to visit some of the schools. Restaurant owner and philanthropist Machiko Yamakami raised some $80,000 to aid schools and other causes. "It is a complex issue," said Ichiji Ishii, a member of Japan's parliament who has lent Fujimori office space. "But we feel we should allow men like Fujimori some pride."

Sentiment against extradition seems strong for now, but some Japanese are openly skeptical of Fugimori's record. "Don't be too sympathetic to this guy," read a headline in the mainstream Mainichi newspaper in December. Even if Japan can avoid an international controversy like the one surrounding the attempted extradition of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Fujimori may not be home free. Says the Foreign Ministry's Fukushima: "If our citizens commit heinous crimes, even on foreign soil, then we will deal with them in our own judicial system."