ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 24, 1996 TAG: 9611250175
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
SOURCE: Associated Press
AFTER 3 1/2 YEARS as Japanese ambassador, the former vice president plans to focus on his family.
He was a senator for 11 years, vice president for four and a candidate for president. Walter Mondale's next mission: to shop for a Christmas tree with his grandchildren.
After 3 1/2 years as U.S. ambassador to Japan, Mondale, 68, is retiring for good. There'll be a rush to get bags packed, settle a few lingering trade issues, then Mondale heads home to Minnesota on Dec.15.
``The next big thing is to go with my grandchildren to buy a Christmas tree,'' he says. ``Then I'm going to put up the decorations.''
It's one of life's ironies that Mondale's long career on the public stage is coming to a close so far from the hurly-burly of American politics that he loves.
Tokyo is a long way from Mankato, Minn., where the Methodist minister's son got his start in politics as local manager for Harry Truman's 1948 presidential campaign.
``I had to go out and raise my own money to get paid,'' Mondale recalled recently.
He rose to senator in 1965, and was elected vice president on Jimmy Carter's ticket in 1976.
Then in 1984 came the ill-fated run for president against Ronald Reagan, who was riding a strong economy and a conservative trend in America that left Mondale, a proud old-fashioned liberal, out in the cold.
``Looking back at it, I don't think there was a meaningful chance I was going to win,'' Mondale reflected in an interview with The Associated Press in Manila, where he was attending an Asia-Pacific trade summit.
He could empathize with Bob Dole, who ran against President Clinton ``without a serious prospect of winning and he had to sustain a campaign nevertheless. Very difficult to do.''
But Mondale said he doesn't regret his campaign.
``Many of the points I made were later acted upon. The yawning size of the [budget] deficit was there for all to see, threatening the future of our country. We couldn't go on that way,'' he said.
``History has vindicated me that we would have to raise taxes. It was very unpopular, but it was undeniably correct.''
After his defeat, Mondale vanished from politics for nearly a decade, quietly practicing law in Minneapolis.
But when Bill Clinton finally brought the presidency back to the Democratic Party in 1992, Mondale was ready for action.
To move to a strange city at age 65 is no small challenge. But he accepted the position of ambassador to Tokyo - and he was no figurehead.
While redecorating the ambassador's residence in central Tokyo with Joan, his wife, he jumped into the trenches, fighting for more U.S. access to markets ranging from cars to cellular phones.
He helped avert a trade war in June 1995 over autos and auto parts, convincing Tokyo to give American automakers more access to Japanese dealers and pushing Japanese carmakers to buy U.S. parts.
``There are parts of the Japanese economy that are very, very difficult for the rest of the world to penetrate,'' he said. ``The Ministry of Construction, the Transport Ministry, in effect decide whether they want foreign competition, and the answer basically is no.''
He offered a persuasive case that Japan itself, which has suffered from slow economic growth since 1991, is the ``big loser'' when it allows collusion between companies to shut out newcomers.
``Where Japan competes with the rest of the world, like autos and consumer electronics, it's quite impressive. But where she protects herself, the costs are very high,'' he said.
But diplomacy will soon be behind him. Mondale now looks forward to watching his grandson play hockey, and maybe to a bit of politicking - not for himself, but for his son, Ted, who may run for governor of Minnesota.
If he runs, Mondale said, deadpan, ``I think I'm going to support him.''
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Walter Mondale, shown in this 1996 file photo, saidby CNBFriday he is retiring as U.S. ambassador to Japan, joining the
exodus from the Clinton administration. color. KEYWORDS: 2DA