May has not been a good month for leadership in Japan. And surely I'm not the only one disappointed.

PART I

It began in Rome on May 1. Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was there on the second leg of his nine-day tour of Japan's Group of Eight partners. Mori, a virtual unknown outside the shores of Nippon, is trying to introduce himself to the world's leaders prior to the Okinawa Summit he must host July 21-23.