MASAYOSHI OHIRA

The history of my friendship with Masayoshi Ohira mirrors in important ways the history of my relationship with Japan. It took me some time to understand that country at once so subtle and so cohesive, where a decision reflects not the act of will of an individual but a consensus based on mutual respect; a nation so akin to a family that little needs be explicit and much is communicated by gesture and intuitive understanding.

Masayoshi Ohira was a great representative of the Japanese people. And he was a good friend of the United States. He helped to educate me about the importance of nuance. He brought home to me the fact that friendship resides in what is unspoken even more than in what is said.

I first met him when I visited Japan in June 1972. Our Embassy organized a dinner for me with several former Japanese foreign ministers. It seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately a successor to Prime Minister Eisaku Sato was being selected at that moment; Ohira would be a key figure. He was not about to reveal his thinking to an American he did not know and whose record on matters Japanese had revealed the absence of a certain delicacy. We spent an evening together. Ohira impressed me by the extraordinary

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feat of saying little and yet conveying in his marvelously
polite way an attitude of great goodwill.

Thereafter what began in shy goodwill deepened into
a gentle intimacy. Masayoshi Ohira taught me patiently
about things Japanese. He always masked his great ability
in a modest bearing; he always delivered more than he
promised. I learned first to respect and then to admire him.
I developed a natural affection for this wise and good
man and was proud to become his colleague.

In November 1973 I came to Japan as Secretary of
State shortly after the cutback in Arab oil production.
Ohira was foreign minister. He had the difficult task of
reconciling Japan's friendship with the United States with
the imperatives of the Japanese energy situation. He
believed that our approach to the Middle East problem did not
correspond to the urgency of the challenge faced by Japan.
He managed to find a position for Japan compatible with
its dignity and its friendship for us. I developed great
trust in Masayoshi Ohira.

Three months later there was an energy conference in
Washington attended by all the industrial democracies. There
was great controversy, much of it having to do with matters
of prestige not relevant to the issue. Ohira, as was his
custom, said nothing but listened carefully. Finally on

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the last day he spoke for the only time at the conference.
His intervention broke the deadlock; it led to the creation
of the International Energy Agency, the permanent and vital
organization of energy cooperation among the industrial
democracies.

Ohira played a major role in Japan's reconciliation with
China, one of the historic events of our time. He lent his
steady hand, an influence of wisdom and vision, to the
strengthening of Japanese-American partnership in a period
of Japan's increasing and positive importance on the world
scene. He was at home in the fields of both economics
and diplomacy, and understood their interaction. He
contributed enormously to the crucial task of promoting the
solidarity of the industrial democracies. He saw the
inevitability of the interdependence of all nations, developed
and developing, and the necessity of international cooperation
to ensure the future of the planet. He was a champion of the
cause of freedom and the cause of peace. American leaders
of all parties and persuasions knew in him a shining example
of Japan's greatness and goodness.

Our last contact was when I visited Japan as a private
citizen in 1979. The group organizing my visit gave a
reception for me. Some of our American officials did not know

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whether to come to an event in honor of a member of the
opposition. Ohira showed no such ambivalence. He
showed up unexpectedly, accompanied by several colleagues;
he then received me for a long private talk in which he
was as wise as ever and acted as if there were no other
demands on his time.

A few days later he delivered a talk in fluent English
to the Trilateral Commission. As he left the room I told
him that he had had an unfair advantage over me all these
years because he could think of an answer to my remarks
while he was listening to an unnecessary translation. He
smiled and put his head on my shoulder. We were warm friends, veterans
of a shared experience, dedicated to a common future.

Our association is one of the fondest and proudest
memories of my public life. I will remember him with
gratitude.

Henry A. Kissinger