Koizumi breaks into song on state visit

The Japanese Prime Minister did everything to demonstrate he was different.

Junichiro Koizumi is an unusual man. While in India, he broke into song at an official function; urged, in English, guests at an official banquet to enjoy Indian curry "as I am looking forward to doing"; said he had got such a rapturous welcome in Delhi he had begun to think he was more popular in India than he was in Japan; and generally stirred up things for tired, jaded official palates in New Delhi.

If he could have, he would have visited a disco while here, his friends say, but unfortunately he didn't get the chance.

In short, the Japanese prime minister did everything to demonstrate he was different "" the very qualification that got him the job of prime minister of Japan, arguably the most advanced industrialised nation of the world.

In Delhi, on Friday, he visited the Delhi Public School, possibly the only institution that teaches Japanese to 500 children at the school level.

He was supposed to stay 30 minutes "" he sat for 60 and watched a programme of a fusion dance combining Bharat Natyam and the Japanese fan dance, compered by the children entirely in Japanese "" as if in a daze.

He then thought all this high culture was too much and began singing, "When you're happy and you know it, clap your hands," ending with "hooray, hooray". The children joined in.

At lunch hosted by Asocham, Ficci and CII, he finished his official speech (in Japanese) and then said in English with a deep sigh: "I have finished my speech. Now I want to enjoy my Indian curry." The whole hall dissolved into laughter.

Everything about Koizumi blazes out the "I am different" sign. Experts on Japanese politics say when the powerful Liberal Democratic Party came to power in Japan, two factions couldn't agree on each other's candidates as PM and plumped for Koizumi because they thought he was a lightweight dilettante they thought they could control.

A creative artist,Koizumi kept long hair, was single (a divorcee), has cut a disc of songs of Elvis (in Japanese, no less) and has sung with Hollywood icon Tom Cruise. He became a powerful symbol of Japanese counterculture, and was for that reason, not considered a particularly significant politician.

But Koizumi is all that and more. He proved he would not be manipulated and although he apologised for war excesses against China at the recent anniversary of Bandung in Jakarta, his friends say it is a matter of time before he visits the Yasukuni shrine, a memorial that in the eyes of countries like China, celebrates the "atrocities" committed by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during World War II.

Those who follow Indo-Japan relations say India is already becoming Japan's closest friend in Asia. The Indian and Japanese Prime Ministers have met four times in the last six months.

This visit by Koizumi is a passing through visit., If he continues as Prime Minister, he is likely to pay a visit with India alone on his itinerary. This will be the turning point for the relationship.