Japan's Leader Weighs Offer To Speak Here

Kiichi Miyazawa, the prime minister of Japan, is currently considering an invitation from President Neil L. Rudenstine to speak at the University, faculty members said yesterday.

Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics Susan J. Pharr said she personally delivered the invitation to Miyazawa during a recent research trip to Japan. The invitation is "open-ended" and for any time during the 1992 academic year, excluding the summer.

Miyazawa was "noncommittal" about the offer, Pharr said.

The prime minister gained international attention earlier this month when he criticized Americans, saying that they "lack a work ethic" and that they were losing the drive "to live by the sweat of their brow."

The University invited Miyazawa to speak before he made the controversial comments.

Pharr said that the suggested topic for the talk was Japan and its relations with the rest of the world, although this was open to negotiation.

"I think this is a topic of great interest to many people today, given recent events," she said. "People want to know what Japan's goals are for the future."

Pharr said that it would "be of great importance to have a lecturer like Mr. Miyazawa" express his thoughts on the subject.

If he accepts the invitation, the prime minister will be a guest of the Harvard Center for International Affairs (CFIA). Miyazawa's talk would be part of the CFIA's Jodidi lecture series.

The purpose of the series, Pharr said, is to "foster world peace."

Several world leaders have delivered Jodidi lectures in the past. including the late Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India.

Yayoi Matsuda, a press officer at the Japanese consulate in Washington, D.C., said that there had been talk of a U.S. visit by the prime minister unrelated to the Harvard invitation, but that a date had not yet been decided.