
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995                   TAG: 9503220087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CLINTON DROPS 'V-J DAY' NAME

The allied victory over Japan, traditionally known as ``V-J Day,'' has been redubbed the ``End of the Pacific War'' by the Clinton administration for observances this summer. Critics suggest the government is bowing - even kowtowing - to Japan.

There are also reports that a planned Pearl Harbor ceremony marking the Japanese surrender was scaled back to avoid embarrassing Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.

Critics accused the administration of bending to Tokyo's will after published reports said that, at Japan's behest, the administration had reduced plans for a gathering of Pacific heads of state at Pearl Harbor on Sept. 2, the 50th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender.

There is still a ceremony planned for Honolulu, and Clinton is expected to attend. But leaders of other nations aren't being invited.

For the record, the administration says plans can't have been scaled back because they hadn't been announced in the first place. And officials say there already were an abundance of high-level gatherings scheduled this year.

The administration also rejects veterans' complaints that it is trying to eliminate usage of the phrase ``V-J Day.''

``I'm not aware of any policy'' that expressly rules out using the phrase ``V-J Day,'' White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Tuesday.

Still, he added, ``There are sensitivities here. ... There is a way in which you can address these things that match the spirit of reconciliation that now exists between the United States and Japan. We are not into gloating.''

At the core of the dispute is Japanese sensitivity on the subject, and the fact that Murayama is on thin political ice himself.

by CNB