"Better read the rest before you jump to conclusions."
She glanced down and continued on.
It had further been decided, the Emperor would say, that the newly
recovered Imperial sword would not be housed at Ise after all. It would
instead be the centerpiece of this new memorial to Japanese technology.
Well, she thought, it still sounds okay. Theme shrines are perfectly
within tradition. After all, the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo commemorated the
nineteenth-century emperor who began Japan's modernization. However,
the thing to remember was that new shrines can have a philosophical
subtext. The Meiji told the Japanese that their country had accepted
Westernization. So, given that the creation of a new shrine can embody
a message to everybody, she found herself wondering what word was being
sent out this time.
The Emperor would go on to spell this out, lest any of his subjects
were too dense to get the picture. Unlike the Yasukuni Shrine, he would
say, this new memorial at Tsukuba would not commemorate Japan's warrior
past; rather it would celebrate a modern Japan whose world eminence
would be fashioned not with arms but through economic struggle. In so
doing, it would symbolize the regeneration of Japan's ancient spirit,
_Yamato damashi_, of which the _bushido _of the samurai was merely one
manifestation, only a stage. Grander things were on the way. Japan's
rightful place in the new world order was only now coming into its own.
The new Tsukuba _damashi _would harness modern technology to Japan's
ancient traditions, would put the new at the service of the old.
What he was really telling his people, she realized, in oblique
language only they would comprehend, was that Japan was now prepared to
wage open confrontation through commerce--their trading state pitted
against the world's military states, whose economic base and martial
ascendancy they would now proceed to challenge through technological
superiority and cutthroat trade.
"Ken, does this mean what I think it means?" She passed back the yellow
page.
"If you think it means Noda's got him now, then the answer is yes. He's
co-opted the Imperial house." He took the sheet and returned it to his
briefcase. "I'd bet you anything Noda himself wrote that speech. He's
begun, Tamara. His total takeover, of America and Japan."
She sat a moment in silence, a strange sensation in her stomach. Did
she believe it? She wasn't sure.
"Ken, there's something you should know. A colleague came with me on
this trip. An American lawyer. Knowing him, he's probably still down in
the bar. I'd like him to read this. Why don't we go down and I'll
introduce you."
"Who is he? Can he be trusted?"
"As a matter of fact, he's an old friend. From a long time past. But
we've been through a lot together lately."
He leaned back and sipped his beer. "Am I to assume this traveling
companion is more than a casual friend?"
"That's not exactly your worry, is it? I don't pry into your life when
I'm away." She got up to retrieve another can of beer.
"You can't blame me for being curious, Tam. It's a simple, reasonable
question."
Nothing Kenji Asano does is ever simple, she told herself. There's
always a subtext.
"Don't try to change the subject. One thing at a time." She sipped from
her glass. "And regarding your plan, as far as I'm concerned, there's
been too much MITI dabbling already. Frankly it pisses me off."
"I'm sorry if you choose to feel that way, Tam." His eyes darkened.
"Please believe me when I assure you we're on the same side. I've told
you what I propose doing about Noda. But I haven't heard any of your
ideas."