Choosing Up Sides

JAPAN Choosing Up Sides

The issues were clearly drawn in last week's election for 127 seats in the upper house of the Japanese Diet. Premier Nobusuke Kishi (who some U.S. worrywarts once thought would prove anti-American) campaigned by urging closer ties with the U.S. The rival Socialists, looking for somewhere else to go, demanded abrogation of the U.S.-Japanese Security Pact and firm alliance with Red China and the Soviet Union. When the votes were in, Premier Kishi had won a clear victory, capturing 71 of the contested seats to 38 for the Socialists. The Socialists lost nearly a million votes--the first such fall-off in ten years. At party headquarters, Secretary-General Asanuma said glumly: "This calls for serious reflection by all Socialist leaders."

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