MikeLigalig.com

By MARTIN FACKLERJAN. 24, 2014



Caroline Kennedy took the traditional carriage ride to meet Emperor Akihito in Tokyo last year. Issei Kato/Reuters


TOKYO — Japan went into a collective swoon two months ago when Caroline Kennedy arrived as the United States’ ambassador. The appointment of someone with such celebrity appeal — who offered a living link to a golden age when America was still reassuringly strong and confident — appeared to be proof that Washington was finally giving Japan the embrace it craved.

When she traveled by horse-drawn carriage to present her credentials to Emperor Akihito, a formality observed by many new ambassadors, thousands of cheering Japanese lined the streets in a rare display of public affection for a diplomatic envoy.

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The comment, coming soon after her embassy issued a rare criticism of the prime minister for visiting a controversial war shrine, indicated that the often reserved Ms. Kennedy might be more of an outspoken envoy than many expected, willing to take on subjects the Japanese prefer to discuss behind closed doors. And she is doing so using a social medium that allows for little of the nuance that shapes formal Japanese diplomatic communication; Ms. Kennedy is an active Twitter user, posting in English and Japanese for her more than 75,000 followers.

Her stark criticism of the hunt comes as the United States is trying to strike a delicate balance — nudging Japan to stop antagonizing its neighbors over their shared wartime history, while also encouraging its support for a stronger American presence in the region as a counterbalance to China.

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The United States Embassy in Japan referred all requests for comment to Washington, and on Friday, the White House spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, said that “Ambassador Kennedy is doing a great job representing the United States in Japan.” The State Department said that even before Ms. Kennedy’s confirmation hearing last fall, she received numerous comments about Japan’s dolphin hunting practices and decided she wanted to address the issue. She consulted with the department about the administration’s policies before posting on Twitter, an official said.

Commentators in Japan say some of the turbulence may be inevitable, since the Obama administration chose in Ms. Kennedy a public figure with the star power to dazzle the Japanese public, but who is also not afraid to speak out. Even if some officials felt jittery with her approach, it might prove difficult for them to say so publicly.

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Her willingness to engage in touchy issues may prove a particular headache for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative who has pledged to maintain close ties with Washington. Mr. Abe, who has 260,000 followers on Twitter, has been popular in Japan’s small but very vocal community of nationalist Web users.

At least one noted woman also spoke out on the dolphin hunt. A day after the ambassador’s post, Yoko Ono published an open letter to the fishermen to stop the killings she said have given Japan a bad name internationally. (Dolphin meat is prized in a limited number of places in Japan, but conservatives bridle at foreign dictates of what Japan should do.)

Despite the kerfuffle, Ms. Kennedy remains enormously popular in Japan, Mr. Spector and others say. Partly, this is because of the aura here that still surrounds the presidency of her father, John F. Kennedy, for whom many older Japanese feel an almost teary-eyed nostalgia. When Ms. Kennedy was named as ambassador, Japanese television stations repeatedly broadcast images of her as a little girl on her father’s lap, or standing forlornly at his funeral.

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Many said the relationship between Japan and the United States is strong enough to endure an honest airing of opinions, and that the number of Japanese who feel strongly about the dolphin hunt is limited in any case.

“Frankly I think it’s good that someone with that kind of credentials can say the kind of thing that others would hesitate to say,” said Ellis S. Krauss, a professor of Japanese politics at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Although the message could have been conveyed more subtly and privately, he said, “It would have gotten less attention if Caroline Kennedy hadn’t said it.”

Minoru Morita, a political analyst who runs a think tank in Tokyo, says he does not think the flare-up will have a lasting effect on her popularity. “I don’t think many Japanese felt good about her criticizing Japan’s food culture,” he said. “But most Japanese have very fond feelings for her, and for the era of her father, and that won’t go away easily.”

Mark Landler contributed reporting from Washington, and Rick Gladstone from New York.

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Go, sweet Caroline. I'm sure dolphin blood is not sweet at all...

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well, can we rein in someone whose parents are on the 500-peso bill?

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