Hey, You Started It

By DAVID ELLIS

Ever since President Bush announced plans to visit Hawaii for the 50th anniversary of the PEARL HARBOR attack, the government of Toshiki Kaifu has been scrambling to avert a fresh round of Japan bashing. Kaifu's advisers have suggested that when Bush travels to Tokyo as scheduled in late November, he pay a respectful call on Hiroshima. Some have even hinted that Bush, a World War II fighter pilot who was shot down by the Japanese in 1944, should take Kaifu with him to Pearl Harbor to symbolize how two old enemies are now allies. But White House officials vehemently oppose the plan. Says one: "The idea seems to be to make it appear that we behaved as badly as the Japanese."

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart