GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

Japanese politicians are addicted to consensus, so it's no surprise that by the time the nation's legislators approved a $9 billion contribution to the gulf effort, the war was over and troops were on their way home. Last week allied commanders took silent note of the tardy assistance when Liberal Democratic Party secretary Ichiro Ozawa was abruptly forced to cancel a trip to the Middle East. Ozawa, touted as a future Japanese Prime Minister, found it difficult to secure appointments with top officials in Saudi Arabia. He also found that military commanders were suddenly too busy to find him a place on a flight into Kuwait. The silent treatment let Tokyo know the allies are in no mood to accommodate Japanese politicians with a yen to horn in on postwar celebrations.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart