Loose Talk From Japan

A Japanese official’s reported comment that Americans “won’t work hard” was the latest by senior politicians that have offended Americans. Some others:

September, 1986: “On the average, the United States is lower because of a considerable number of blacks, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans.”

--Then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, comparing Japanese and American intelligence levels.

July, 1988: “Among those guys over there (in the United States) are a lot of blacks and so on who would think without concern: ‘We’re bankrupt. Now we don’t have to pay anything back.’ ”

--Michio Watanabe, a senior governing party official and now foreign minister, discussing personal bankruptcy, which he said might drive a Japanese to suicide.

September, 1990: They “ruin the atmosphere of the neighborhoods they move into . . . just like in America, where blacks move in and whites are forced out.”

--Then-Justice Minister Seiroku Kajiyama after a police roundup of foreign prostitutes in Tokyo.

September, 1991: “American candidates lack a strict sense of ethics, don’t they?”

--Then-Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during a parliamentary discussion of campaign finances.

On Sunday: “It is really pathetic that America is becoming a subcontractor to Japan.” The reason for the trade imbalance is that “U.S. workers won’t work hard” and are unproductive and often illiterate.

--Yoshio Sakurauchi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, quoted as telling a group of constituents.