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- LETTERS, Page 6Japan's View of the U.S.
-
- As a Japanese citizen living overseas, I read with interest
- and apprehension the interview with Shintaro Ishihara (IDEAS,
- Nov. 20), a right-wing Japanese politician. Ishihara is correct
- when he speaks of the need for Japanese leaders to say yes or
- no clearly. His claim that Japan can assume a global leadership
- role on the strength of its advanced technology deserves
- serious consideration. However, his assertion that Americans
- exhibit "foolish pride and racial prejudice" toward the Japanese
- is an insult to the citizens of a country that has accepted
- millions of different people from all over the world. His idea
- of Asia being Japan's franchise is nostalgically anachronistic
- in this age of global interdependence and integration.
-
- Eiichi Katahara Canberra
-
- Ishihara is right. New economic superpowers are emerging,
- taking the place of the old military superpowers of the cold
- war. It is time the American ego stepped down from its outdated
- high-and-mighty prominence. The U.S. may be the first victim of
- the struggle between two new superpowers. Make no mistake, an
- economic war is in its own way as devastating as other wars, and
- maybe worse.
-
- Guy Hasson Mizpe Ramon, Israel
-
- Wasn't it a recent Japanese Prime Minister who suggested
- that black and Hispanic Americans were lowering the intellectual
- level of the U.S., and isn't Japan the country that until lately
- had Little Black Sambo dolls for sale? It appears that both
- countries -- like all other nations -- have something to learn
- about racial equality.
-
- Kevin Short Toronto
-