U.S.envoy delivers Bush apology to Japan

Admiral William J. Fallon will repeat U.S. apologies

TOKYO, Japan -- Special U.S. envoy Admiral William J. Fallon has hand-delivered an apology from President George W. Bush to try to mend ties after a U.S. submarine sunk a Japanese trawler.

Fallon, the Navy's number two man in Washington, met Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori Tuesday evening to hand over the apology from Bush and to brief Mori on details of the ongoing Navy investigation, including the Court of Inquiry set to open on March 5.

On Wednesday, Fallon is expected to meet families of the missing and leaders of the coalition government. He will leave Japan on March 1.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Sub collision

Relations between the two nations have been strained since February 9, when the USS Greeneville surfaced suddenly, crashing into the Ehime Maru training trawler and sinking it within minutes.

Nine Japanese remain missing and are presumed dead, including four schoolboys.

IN DEPTH The USS Greeneville: Collision at sea

Makoto Koga, policy chief of the dominant ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), told reporters that party leaders intended to present several requests to Fallon.

"We hope to call on him for a number of things, including the question of raising the ship," he added.

Japan has been pressing to raise the Ehime Maru from its ocean bed so families can recover the bodies of loved ones. The vessel lies more than 600 meters (1,900 ft) deep and would be costly and technically difficult to raise.

Saying Sorry

Fallon's major task is to repeat U.S. apologies -- an important gesture in Japan, where apologies carry huge significance.

While President Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell have all expressed regret for the accident, the silence of submarine Commander Scott Waddle has left many in Japan unhappy.

Mori bows to the father of one of the missing students

In a statement to public broadcaster NHK on Sunday, Waddle expressed his "sincere regret" for the accident, which he said he knew had caused "unimaginable grief" to all the Japanese people.

Short of an apology

"No words can adequately express my condolences and concern for those who have lost their loved ones. I too grieve for the families and the catastrophic losses that the families have endured," Waddle's statement said.

The families of the missing, however, were outraged, saying the statement was not direct enough -- a feeling many Japanese likely share.

In Japan, apologies are often viewed more as expressing a sense of shame about causing trouble to society than as an admission of guilt or responsibility.

Japanese corporate executives typically bow deeply and apologise when underlings commit blunders and spark scandals, while politicians resigning over a scandal wouldn't dream of leaving the stage without saying they were sorry for causing trouble to their party and the people.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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