No matter. In the New Economy, it will take cultural mediators like Satoh to nudge forward the process of communication, however slowly. Already, she is contemplating broadening her message from business clients to government. "I pay taxes," she reasons, "and we must seriously rethink the way we look at ourselves and present ourselves to the world.''
One idea she plans to propose: the Foreign Ministry should invite foreigners in and monitor how they perceive official statements - sort of a multinational focus group. "This kind of input has never been tried,'' Satoh says.
That's hardly the kind of suggestion Japan's concrete-minded bureaucrats are likely to jump at. But they might do well to start listening. After all, Japan's relations with the rest of the world couldn't get much worse.
Or could they?
Nina J. Easton is staff writer for the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
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