The coalition government of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is clearly in a delicate situation. Should he make another serious mistake, Mori will be forced to resign. I had some hopes for Mori as prime minister, since the late Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, a friend of mine, had praised his political acumen. Frankly, however, I have been disappointed.
Mori does not know what he is doing or talking about. Except for a few senseless postwar politicians who had ties with rightist extremists, I have never seen a political leader like Mori.
As prime minister, Mori first caused a political uproar when he said Japan was "a country of gods centering on the Emperor." Then, in connection with the general election in June, Mori said he hoped that unaffiliated urban voters would sleep in on election day and refrain from going to the polls to give an advantage to the ruling coalition. But as prime minister, he should have urged the public to go to the polls.