[War] Japan: "A Reply from Japan"

[Ian Martell]

"A Reply from Japan"
Prime Minister Shunichi Sato
Japan
July 31 2014
----

"Morning Shunichi," Minister Jonouchi said with a smile and polite nod as he 
entered the Prime Minister's office. The familiar address and the slightly 
more confident gait the short bookish minister now used came with his new 
title, that of deputy Prime Minister. Sato had finally dislodged the 
cantankerous old Minister of Finance from the post, and in what many pundits 
agreed was a shrewd political move appointed Jonouchi in his place.

'Because where Jonouchi goes, so too does his faction' Sato had thought when 
he had made the decision. And Sato needed Jonouchi's faction, it the second 
in size to his own, and with his support, Sato had a iron grip on the party. 
A necessary first step in securing the support for his plans for Article 9.

However that wasn't the matter of discussion.

"So, the Australians have given us an answer?" asked Sato as the new Deputy 
Prime Minister took a seat.

"Yes," he replied adjusting his glasses and producing a copy for the Prime 
Minister. "They've called for a multi-lateral summit, well, suggested it 
anyhow."

Sato read over the reply.

"Rushing things a bit, I suppose, but then that's the West for you," he said 
putting the memo down on his desk. "What do you think?"

"I think we could do it," Jonouchi replied. "It is faster than we had 
planned to move, but it is in the right direction."

"Agreed. However I would like to coordinate with the Australians before 
hand, perhaps a phone call between myself and Prime Minister Decker."

The plan all along had been to coordinate the Japanese and Australian 
efforts in order provide a united front, and ensure that the summit was 
successful with no break downs between the two principle nations. However he 
supposed a call could see that done just as well as a visit Down Under, 
though he was sure there would be some disappointed staffers. Sato had only 
left the country twice since coming into office and both times were to 
Russia.

"We can set up a call," Jonouchi assured him.

"Good, as for this summit."

"Our original plans called for either here or Canberra for the full summit 
between the participating nations."

Security would doubtlessly be a factor there. It would be nice to have done 
the thing in the heart of Southeast Asia, however since the people they were 
trying to stop had their homes and bases there as well, it would be 
impractical.

"We'll offer to host, Nagano would be ideal, somewhere secluded, tolerable 
in the summer, and has the facilities for a world class summit."

"We'll see if that will be workable. Attendees?"

"The usual suspects," Sato said and picked up the letter again. "And suggest 
we invite Burma, if they refuse they can't complain we didn't give them the 
chance."

"Agreed. Should we wire our requests for input to the Philippines and 
Thailand?" he asked.

"Yes, just as we planned," he said. "Once they're in line, pretty much 
everyone else will have to show up or be on the sidelines."

"I'll see it done."
---

TO: Prime Minister Jack Decker
FROM: Prime Minister Shunichi Sato

Mr. Prime Minister,

I agree a multi-lateral summit would be beneficial, however in the interest 
of presenting a united front, perhaps we can communicate by phone before 
hand. It would be beneficial as the principles to avoid disagreement which 
might allow the reluctant room to manoeuvre. As for the time and place, I 
suggest late August, in Nagano, normally a intolerable time of year in this 
country, but Nagano can be quite pleasant.

This is our suggested list of attendees: Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, 
Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam and Burma.

I suggest adding Burma to the list only because we expect them to refuse and 
it exonerates us from trying to exclude them.
I look forward to your thoughts.

Yours in friendship,

Shunichi Sato

Prime Minister of Japan


Actions:

1> Present a little bit of the internal politics.
2> Reply to the Australian request for the summit to be multi-lateral, and 
suggest Nagano as a site.