Fukuda was always one of my favorite politicians, partly because he was so
witty. The quote I like the best of those I collected when working on budgeting
was his remark as Finance Minister after submission of a budget that was pretty
tight in overall spending but included some last-minute goodies for politicians:
"It's a Chinese food budget--not many ingredients but lots of flavor." I briefly
contrasted his style with Tanaka's inside the MOF in my book, and Kent Calder
has a more systematic comparison in a very good essay in the book on political
leadership in Japan edited by Terry MacDougall, published here at Michigan. A
full-scale political biography that started when he was Japan's most celebrated
budget examiner (in charge of the budget for the army in the late 1930s if I
remember correctly) would be great to read. Too bad polisci dissertations can't
be biographies any more (it seems).
Prof. Hiwatari's general point that we need to think about differences among
PMs, including where they succeeded, is very well taken.

[Moderator's Note: The book cited above is _Political Leadership in Japan_ (ed.
by Terry Edward MacDougall). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1982.]