61642 Be it security, economy, or nuclear issue, no new idea was offered in any area by the prime minister as he had simply been staying on the course the government officials in charge had set up.
61643 It is no wonder that the American media did not give him a good mark.
61644 At the press conference held just before greeting the prime minister, Mr. Winston Lord, the Assistant Secretary of State, put Mr. Murayama's visit as "a Japanese tradition where the prime minister pays a visit to Washington, DC at the earliest opportunity after taking office."
61645 It is, as they say, sankin kotai, or the "alternate attendance" system which required all daimyo (lords) to spend alternate years in Edo, the capital of old Japan.
61646 In light of Mr. Lord's perspective, it can be said that the US never expected a "creative" visit from the Prime Minister.
61647 However, it may be too harsh to have Prime Minister Murayama alone take the blame.
61648 Former Japanese prime ministers also emphasized a "new relationship" whenever they visited the US and made some commitments.
61649 Those commitments, however, were no better than being tossed in the garbage with the arrival of the next prime minister.
61650 During the past two years President Clinton has been in office, Japan has had four prime ministers.
61651 It is not unreasonable if the president eventually came to think that "they are not worth being taken seriously."
61652 Furthermore, he is having a tough time with the midterm election results that turned the tables for the Republicans in Congress.
61653 Congress has just convened the current session and this is a crucial test for the president.
61654 Also, there is concern over the Chechen situation that could put his sworn ally Russian President Yeltsin on shaky ground.
61655 More worrisome is the economic crisis in neighboring Mexico.
61656 It really comes as no surprise that questions from the American press corps focused on these issues during the press conference.