PRESIDENT CLINTON, in a televised address to the Japanese parliament, yesterday said he understood why some Japanese wanted US bases to close and he apologised for the "horrible violence" done to an Okinawan schoolgirl. He was referring to the rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl by three US servicemen on the island of Okinawa, which led to a spate of protests at the 40 US military facilities there.
Leaving Japan with a symbolic gift of 1,000 cherry tree seedlings, Mr Clinton looked back on a three-day visit that could have hardly achieved more: the future of US troops in Japan assured and a greater commitment from Tokyo to stand beside the US in defending peace in Asia.
Today world leaders, including Mr Clinton, convene in Moscow for what is billed as a summit on nuclear safety. It is also an elaborate display of personal support for President Yeltsin as he campaigns to win a second term in the Kremlin.
The gathering of the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialised nations is being held at the suggestion of Mr Yeltsin, who faces a strong Communist challenge in June's presidential election.
The agenda contains a pot pourri of issues about nuclear safety and security as varied as the lavish menu that the leaders are likely to find when they gather for a working dinner at the Kremlin Palace tonight.
Western diplomats admit the summit, which comes less than a week before the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, is unlikely to produce any historic developments. Nevertheless they have been touting it as an important opportunity to forge closer relationships, particularly with Russia, over critical nuclear-related issues.
Of these, there is no shortage. The G7 (or G8, as Russia prefers) will discuss, and almost certainly accept, proposals for their security services to co-operate more closely in efforts to clamp down on the theft and smuggling of fissile material. This is aimed at reducing the risk that weapons-grade materials could fall into the hands of terrorists.
The summit will endorse an agreement to shut down Chernobyl by the end of the century, and discuss closing similar ageing RMBK reactors of which there are 15 in the former Soviet Union and tightening controls on others.
Officials say there will be talks on the disposal of nuclear waste and on completing a comprehensive test ban treaty. Russia can also expect to be under renewed pressure to sign the amended London Convention which bans the dumping of radioactive waste at sea.
But, as Moscow spruced up for the event, a groundswell of criticism has already begun among independent nuclear experts and environmentalists, who, g the summit does not go far enough. They claim it fails to tackle several of the most important issues - for example, the ratification of Start-2 or a ban on fig unsafe reactors, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Instead of a state dinner, the G7 and Russia should gather for a prayer breakfast," said Dr Tom Cochran, a senior scientist with the US Natural Resources Defence Council, one of a task force of international non-governmental organisations which held a pre-summit meeting in Moscow. The summit's safety programme is "far too little to prevent another Chernobyl-style catastrophe", he warned. Similar complaints have been raised by Greenpeace and other pressure groups.
Cynical observers cannot fail to remark on the irony of the summit's co-chairmanship - Mr Yeltsin, whose military forces are responsible for dumping some of the most hazardous waste on the planet, and President Jacques Chirac, still "public enemy number one" among environmentalists because of France's nuclear tests in the Pacific.
Mindful that they may one day have to deal with him, US officials have invited the Communist leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, to a meeting with Mr Clinton, although yesterday it was not clear whether he would attend.