ASO HAS A FAKE-REMORSE FIASCO, KOIZUMI PLEADS FOR LOVE

Japan's ambitious but merely wealthy rightist Foreign Minister, whom I've mentioned before in similarly flaky circumstances, now has another political black hole to his credit. His recent and surprising appointment to office by Koizumi says much about the rightist aspect of the apparently folksy Prime Minister's political aims. I predict that as a result of these efforts, China and India will lead the way in the coming Asian world economy, leaving a strident and unrepentant Japan isolated in the rear. (Koizumi's "Hello American people... Love me tender..." from Graceland perhaps betrayed his increasing sense of isolation.)

"'This fiasco never had a great chance of succeeding,' said Robyn Lim, professor of international relations at Nanzan University, an Australian and a former acting head of current intelligence at the Office of National Assessments in Canberra. 'Mr Aso is still in denial that his own family company enslaved Australian POWs and that two of them died in his mine,' she said.

Earlier this week, The Age aired criticism of the planned ceremony from historians, political analysts and veterans' representatives. Central to their criticism were doubts that Mr Aso, an ambitious right-wing politician, lacked genuine remorse for Japan's war record and might manipulate the event in his campaign to be Japan's next prime minister.

The episode has cast new doubt on Mr Aso's political skills and appears certain to put another hole in his prime ministerial ambitions."

Couldn't happen to a flakier guy. Appointed by Koizumi to represent Japan to the world.