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                               AP  o  Reuters

   Bush Arrives in Tokyo to Tepid Response on Evil
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   Bush Arrives in Tokyo to Tepid Response on Evil February 17, 2002 3:37
   am EST

   By Isabel Reynolds

   TOKYO (Reuters) - President Bush arrived in Tokyo Sunday shooting from
   the hip in his declared war against terrorism and his drive to
   persuade Japan to bite the bullet on reforms, but he may find the
   official response lukewarm.

   However, small groups of angry demonstrators ensured a somewhat heated
   arrival for Bush after he stepped off his flight into a cold and
   drizzling Tokyo afternoon.

   During a stop-off in Alaska at the start of a whistlestop tour that
   takes him to Japan, South Korea and China this week, Bush hit out at
   North Korea, one of the three governments he cited as a threat to the
   world in his "axis of evil" speech last month.

   Without naming North Korea, Iran or Iraq, Bush put the three nations
   that he branded an "axis of evil" last month on notice that if they
   built weapons of mass destruction and sold them to "terrorist
   organizations" he would take forceful action.

   But Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani Sunday expressed
   reservations about aligning Japan with U.S. policy.

   Nakatani said the issue of Tokyo's support for any U.S. military
   operation against Iraq or beyond Afghanistan would depend on whether
   proven links existed to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and
   Washington.

   "The question is whether there is linkage to the September 11
   terrorist attacks and the actions in Afghanistan. We would need an
   explanation of the U.S. actions," Nakatani told a television talk
   show.

   "We would make a judgement after receiving a thorough explanation of
   what the linkages are."

   VISIT SPARKS PROTESTS

   About 100 left-wing demonstrators wearing helmets, their faces covered
   by surgical masks or towels, marched through the heart of Tokyo to
   express anger at Bush's foreign policy. They carried banners with
   anti-Bush slogans.

   Tight security prevented them from approaching the U.S. embassy.

   "Stop warmonger Bush's visit to Japan! Smash the U.S.-Japan summit
   meeting!" read one of their pamphlets.

   "Bush has tyrannized Afghanistan and now he is making plans to attack
   Iraq. With his visit to Japan, Bush is trying to get the support of
   Japan. The Zengakuren is opposed to this," said Akinobu Ozaki, the
   vice-chairman of left-wing students' group Zengakuren.

   The marchers met vocal opposition from right-wing groups supportive of
   the United States, who used megaphones to blare out the message:
   "Welcome Bush."

   Environmental groups also staged a demonstration against U.S.
   rejection of the Kyoto agreement on global warming, delivering a
   letter of protest to the U.S. embassy.

   WARINESS ON NORTH KOREA

   Japan last October enacted legislation enabling it to provide
   rear-guard logistics support for the U.S.-led military action in
   Afghanistan. Officials and experts say it would be difficult to extend
   such support to attacks against other nations under that law.

   Japan's post-war pacifist constitution bans the use of force to settle
   international disputes, but Tokyo has been pushing the limits of those
   constraints in recent years.

   Nakatani said he saw Bush's comments as intended to demonstrate to the
   American people his stern stance toward terrorism, but added that
   there had been no proof of a direct link between North Korea and al
   Qaeda or the Taliban.

   Shinzo Abe, deputy chief cabinet secretary, emphasized that Japan must
   establish its own position.

   "All of the allies don't have to line up their shoes with the United
   States, each has its separate role," he told the same television
   program.

   Bush's friendly personal relations with Prime Minister Junichiro
   Koizumi will not prevent him from raising the prickly issue of the
   failing Japanese economy. Fears of a crisis are growing before the
   financial year-end in March as the intractable problems of deflation
   and banks' bad debts remain to be solved.

   Despite Koizumi's waning popularity at home that increases skepticism
   over his ability to push through the necessary painful reforms, Bush
   has repeatedly said in recent days that he believes Koizumi capable of
   revitalizing the economy.

   SECURITY-ECONOMY LINK

   "The message from me to my friend will be a consistent message and
   that is that (the) Japanese economy must restructure and must deal
   with her loans, her bad loans. And I am more than confident that the
   prime minister understands this and is willing to make difficult
   decisions," Bush told Asian reporters Friday.

   Koizumi has promised a firm plan on anti-deflationary measures by the
   end of the month.

   The two vital issues of the economy and security were very closely
   related, Abe said.

   "There are demands from those responsible for U.S. security policy
   that Japan get its economy in shape," Abe said.

   Washington wanted Tokyo to get its economic house in order so that it
   could play its proper role in stabilizing the Asian region, he said.

   Articles From Reuters