Do you know about the country called Papua New Guinea? It is a six hour direct flight from Tokyo. If you go directly south from Japan, in the Pacific when you cross the equator, you hit the island of New Guinea, which has an area of about 770,000km2 or more than twice the size of Japan. The western half of this big island is an Indonesian colony, and the eastern half is the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, belonging to the British Commonwealth, with a population of about 4,810,000.

At the end of last year I visited this country as a special envoy for the World Health Organization (WHO) who are trying to bring Hansen's disease under control.

During the Pacific War, for more than three years until the end of the war, this island became the scene of battles between Japanese forces and American and Australian forces. On the New Guinea front the Japanese casualty rate of 94% was largely due to deaths from diseases such as malaria and starvation, making it really an island of tragedy. At the time the war ended, the Japanese military headquarters was at Wewak, on the eastern coast of the island. Sir Michael Somare, who was chosen as Prime Minister for the fourth time last summer, and is revered as the "founding father of his country," comes from this town of Wewak .

In 1970, when my father Ryoichi visited Wewak for the collection and reburial of ashes, it was Mr. Somare who looked after him so devotedly. At that time he was 34 years old. From being a radio journalist he decided on becoming a politician. With Wewak as his base he became a Member of Parliament and concerned himself with the independence movement. In 1975 from being an Australian trust territory, Papua New Guinea became independent and Mr. Somare was chosen as the first Prime Minister.

My father, who realized that he had a future, invited him personally to Tokyo, introduced him to the then Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, and treated him most cordially, furnishing him with election posters and a campaign car for the election.

Because of this connection, when on my trip to Papua New Guinea I took time off from my duties to go to Wewak and visit the war memorial there to console the souls of the dead, the Prime Minister was kind enough to fly from Port Moresby to invite me to dinner. The main dish at that time was freshly caught tuna sashimi, but for some reason it appeared on the menu as "susumi." "It's a shame there's no wasabi today, but 'susumi' is a favorite of mine," he said, and I was surprised to see him eat it after soaking it liberally in soy sauce.

Wewak has no Modern Western style hotel so I stayed in a beach cottage. When I was told I had a visitor in the early morning, I went out to the lobby and saw a youth standing there. When he introduced himself, "I am Somare's son Ryoichi," I was again amazed. It seems that the quiet-mannered Ryoichi manages a building company together with his elder brother. In return for the strong support, both material and spiritual, shown to him by my father, Sir Michael Somare had named his third son Ryoichi for him. I felt that I had unexpectedly gained a new relative, and we exchanged a warm handshake.

Incidentally, in 1988 The Nippon Foundation and The Sasakawa Peace Foundation invited the leaders of eleven southern island nations to Tokyo and held the first experimental Pacific Island Nations Conference. Of course Sir Michael Somare attended. This Pacific Island Nations Conference later developed into the Japan-South Pacific Forum Summit Meeting under the leadership of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. The third Conference will be held in Okinawa in May of this year. Prime Minister Somare, not confining himself to relations between Japan and Papua New Guinea, will be seeking a much wider role in relations between Japan and the island nations of the Pacific.

I promised the Prime Minister that when he visits Japan, we will discuss relations between Japan and the Pacific islands, while enjoying a dish of "susumi" with plenty of wasabi.

The monument for the war dead at Wewak, designed by architect Kiyoshi Seike, has continued to be maintained in good condition. We hear that due to the Prime Minister's detailed attention, the city of Wewak is paying particular care to cleaning and maintenance. The grass at the site of the former headquarters is kept cut, and paths have been made around the scattered sites of the anti-aircraft guns of the old army. I brought the palms of my hands together in prayer as the brilliantly hot sun of the south reflected on the coral pebbles imbedded in the war memorial.

If you think about it, ten days after this article goes to print (March 7th) will be exactly the 60th anniversary of the Japanese Army opening its New Guinea campaign. It really made me realize how long ago it was.

(President, The Nippon Foundation)

This article was previously published in the "Sankei-shimbun" on 24 February 2003. It is reprinted with the permission of the author. (SPINF secretariat)