Western media have reported Japan's new prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, as drab and unexciting and even as "lukewarm pizza." But anyone who watched him during his more than three-year stint as chief Cabinet secretary would know that he has a sharp mind and a laid-back sense of humor.
We are now discovering that he also has a quiet determination. If he is unexciting, it is because he realizes the virtue of conciliation rather than confrontation.
Just a few years back, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was dubbed "cold pizza" by some Western media. In fact, to anyone who knew him, he was open and warmhearted. Even if you did not know him, his willingness to ignore the United States and have Japan approve the global ban on lethal land mines suggested that he was not your ordinary insensitive, power-grabbing Japanese politician — that he had a heart and a soul. None of that got much mention in the Western media.