SYDNEY -- All sweetness and light, plus a dash of pay dirt. That about sums up the three-day foray into Australia by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. A free-trade agreement, or FTA, got no further than free-talking. A security protocol including the United States as a third party came a few steps closer. Canberra stayed coy on environmental protection through the Kyoto Protocol, and Japan was not badgered over whaling in the South Pacific.
Even cynical Canberra watchers agree it was an all-smiles coup. This first call by a Japanese leader in five years returns the courtesy of regular visits to Tokyo by his Australian counterpart, John Howard. Although the stops at Canberra and Sydney were hurried before a flight to Wellington, they were surely among the most productive of Koizumi's swoop around Southeast Asia. The timing of Koizumi's trip could have been questionable -- as it came so soon after Anzac Day, when Australia honors its war dead -- but not the results.
Only when Koizumi inspected the shell of a World War II Japanese submarine in Canberra's war museum did a few aides glance sideways. The midget sub was one of three that invaded Sydney Harbor 60 years ago this month. The bodies of four young Japanese sailors were later cremated with full military honors and their remains sent home to their families. Although some locals protested the tribute -- what with news of the deaths of 8,000 of 22,000 Australian prisoners of war in Japanese Army camps still vivid -- the Australian Navy commander at the time said: "These men were patriots of the highest order. How many of us would be prepared for one-thousandth of the sacrifice that these men made?"