While the possible pregnancy of his predecessor's daughter, the Crown Princess, is attracting massive public attention at home, Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations Yukio Sato's bid for his country's permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council has gone largely unheralded.
To Sato's chagrin, despite garnering basic international support for its bid for the seat, Japan lacks the public enthusiasm needed to encourage it to lead world opinion and push U.N. Security Council reform through.
"Everybody in Japan simply regards the matter as something that might happen in the remote future," said Sato, who has pursued the goal since taking over the post in October 1998 from Hisashi Owada, father of the Crown Princess.
Sato complained of the Japanese media turning a blind eye to U.N. moves toward Security Council reform.