Professor Hiwatari asks:
>The letters to the editor page of the Economist (Aug 19) has two letters by
former leaders of states--Helmut Schmidt and Malcolm Fraser--expressing their
disappointment to an earlier obituary of Fukuda Takeo.

>Should these letters be considered as old boys protecting each others
reputation, or is it warning to our tendency to see all (Japanese)
p>olitics, or all (Japanese) politicians corrupt?

I don't know whether Fukuda was corrupt or not, but on the question of whether
Fraser and Schmidt are "old boys protecting each others reputation," they are at
the very least fellow "old boys." This is obviously a mere footnote to a far
more important discussion, but people following the discussion may be interested
to know that Fukuda and Schmidt co-founded a group of former prime ministers
called the Inter-Action Council. Fraser is an active member. The group meets
yearly to discuss big world issues: disarmament, population trends, world
poverty, etc. This year's meeting was in Tokyo, and I was one of three
journalists invited to sit in on the discussions. I heard a number of the
Japanese staff refer to the Inter-Action Council as the "OB Kai." Fukuda
appeared briefly to make an opening statement; he was obviously in very frail
health. Both Fraser and Schmidt attended. It was pretty clear that Schmidt and
several of the others held Fukuda in very high regard.
Draw whatever conclusions from it you will. --Urban Lehner, The Asian Wall
Street Journal, Hong Kong