World Notes Japan

No matter how long Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa hangs on to his post, he is not likely to have many weeks as bad as the last one. Along with a sharp drop in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, declining approval ratings in the polls, and insinuations of financial wrongdoings, he suffered a particularly disappointing setback when parliament effectively killed a government measure to let Japanese soldiers serve overseas in United Nations peacekeeping operations. After harsh criticism in the West for Japan's failure to participate in the gulf coalition against Iraq, Miyazawa was determined to ease his country's strict limitations on military service abroad. The bill was approved by the Lower House of the Diet after sometimes violent debate, but when the Prime Minister tried to push it through the Upper House, support drained away.

Miyazawa refused to meet opposition demands for closer Diet review of any deployment with the U.N. He lost the backing of some in his own party, who feared they would alienate voters in next summer's election. "Pacifist sentiment, especially among women, is very strong," said Wakako Hironaka, an opposition member who supported the bill. "Some people mistakenly fear that sending troops overseas, even with the United Nations, means the revival of militarism."