'Mind the gap," the British warn commuters stepping off trains. It's good advice in East-West relations, too, since there are some gaps that appear to be unbridgeable. A rather wide one was revealed last week in the hubbub in the United States over the apology of New York Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui.
Mr. Matsui, as all Japan probably knew within seconds of it happening, broke his wrist May 4 as he dove for a catch in the first inning of the Yankees' 5-3 loss to their baseball archrivals the Boston Red Sox. The injury arguably hurt the Yankees' star even more than it is likely to hurt his team: It snapped a streak of consecutive games that dated back to August 1993, when Mr. Matsui was playing for the Yomiuri Giants. Anyone who had just seen an almost 13-year-long effort abruptly ended could be forgiven for feeling sorry for himself, however briefly.
Yet Mr. Matsui has not voiced a split second's worth of self-pity or even self-concern. The very next day, the popular player was deflecting all expressions of sympathy.