Nader Samurai

Consumer Champion Ralph Nader may not seem the most likely hero for a country that is sometimes referred to as Japan, Inc. But during a five-day visit that ended last week, he proved to be just about the most popular American guest since Babe Ruth. Invited by the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Nader was lionized wherever he went. In return he made front-page news for his hosts. He lectured to S.R.O. crowds and held a sharp televised debate with a vice president of New Japan Steel on the subject of corporate spending to control pollution. He declared that one slum district ought to be cleared as a ''pollution-intense" area and encouraged the Japanese to speak up more for consumer protection. "Citizenship in almost every country," he told his hosts, "is as primitive as physics was in the days of Archimedes."

Nader zipped through a packed schedule, clutching folders and papers, and looking like the soul of seriousness and efficiency. Observing that Japanese exports are the most vulnerable part of the economy, he suggested that mercury-tainted tuna might be "the first glimmer on the horizon" of a new fact: "Japan's pollution problem is being internationalized." and could form "a new kind of nontariff trade barrier."

In Kyoto, Nader sat down on the straw tatanri mat floor of a Japanese inn with leaders of Japan's fledgling consumers' union and composed a six-page open letter to Prime Minister Eisaku Sato suggesting that cars sold in Japan should have the same safety devices --seat belts, headrests, dual braking systems--that are put on models exported to the U.S. He also made the point that every time a Japanese company recalls its cars in the U.S.. it should be required to do so in Japan. The next day, Honda Motor Company recalled 63,000 cars sold in Japan for replacement of a defective clutch system. Honda executives said that the action had nothing to do with Nader's letter to Sato.

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