'A few evenings later', relates Entwistle, 'the Japanese electrified the conference by mounting a production of songs, dances and skits. The performance was both a flowering of their personal changes and growing maturity and an interpretation of the best of their distinctive culture. It combined grace, beauty and a good deal of candid humour. Frank Buchman was so delighted with it all that he got to his feet about midnight and said they must give their presentation in the cities they were due to visit, leaving in a couple of days. To any other group the idea would have seemed madness, but somehow, with the aid of round-the-clock work, a stage crew was assembled, a portable stage set was made, halls were booked and invitations rushed out to friends in Detroit, Washington and New York.'4 The party of two hundred interviewed management and labour at Ford's and the leaders of the NAACP* convention in Detroit, were entertained in the House and Senate at Washington and given lunch by delegates to the United Nations in New York. They then returned to Mackinac, bringing with them the Japanese Ambassador to the UN. Soon after, half of the Seinendan delegates had to leave for home, while the others stayed for further training.

(* National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.)

Those who had remained decided to develop their skits into a play through which they could portray their new ideas on their return. One of them, a small-town business man with a farming background, named Yoshinori Yamamoto, came up with a story of family life, down-to-earth and moving because it was based on the real-life experiences of many of them. They called it Road to Tomorrow, and performed it in the following months in many parts of Japan.

Kishi decided to visit Japan's South-East Asian neighbours in that autumn of 1957, in the hope of revitalising economic relations with them. Before he left Tokyo he was visited by Senator Kato, who offered him the support of the Opposition if, before discussing trade relations in these countries, he would first express the sincere apologies of the Japanese people for the wrongs of the past. Senator Kato told Kishi about The Vanishing Island's visit to Manila. She described the indrawn hiss of breath when Hoshijima began to speak to a thousand Filipinos in the hated Japanese tongue, and the thunderous applause when his apology and the Government's promise of reparations, which he had been empowered to announce, had been translated.

496