July 30, 2002

TOKYO - Alberto Fujimori looks like many other middle-aged Japanese men, with his dark suits, nondescript silver hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He buys his food at the local supermarket and usually eats at home.

But attention — and controversy — is something that the ousted Peruvian president, living in self-exile in the country to which he now claims allegiance, finds hard to shake.

After two years in the shadows, rumor has it Fujimori is planning a return to public life. Japanese media say he might seek political office here. In Peru, the speculation is of a run for re-election as president in 2006.

Analysts say either would be difficult, but not all that far-fetched.

"Fujimori is still seen as almost mythical by the Japanese public," said Hidetaka Ogura, a former Japanese Embassy official in Lima and visiting professor at Tokyo's International Christian University. "He could probably win a fair number of votes."

Fujimori has no comment on his intentions.

He refuses to meet the press, and communicates with the public only through his Internet site, from which he posts articles on his daily routine, his tenure as Peru's president and decision to flee Peru, where he is accused of everything from crimes against humanity to genocide to torture.

In small ways, however, Fujimori has been fanning speculation about his political ambitions.

Earlier this month, advertisements hanging in Tokyo's subways announced a rare public appearance during which he was scheduled to lecture on how, as Peruvian president, he fought terrorism and poverty.

The lecture was canceled after the Peruvian Embassy complained. An earlier appearance at Tokyo's Takushoku University in January elicited a protest from 227 academics worldwide. That university also canceled and retracted its appointment of Fujimori as visiting professor.

Of great interest to Fujimori watchers was his presence last month at a political reunion to support a friend running in a local election.

The event reignited speculation that Fujimori may be testing the waters before himself seeking elected office, possibly a seat in Parliament. He reportedly has the support of right-wing politicians, including Tokyo's nationalist Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and his multimillionaire benefactor, Torao Tokuda.

But Japan may just be a way station for the ousted leader.

Peruvian media reported this month that Fujimori met with a campaign adviser in Tokyo to work out a strategy for his comeback in Peru.

Former Fujimori former press adviser Carlos Raffo said he's opening an office soon to defend Fujimori against various accusations of wrongdoing in Peru and to promote his political return.

"There should be no doubt: the goal is the return of Alberto Fujimori to Peru for the presidential campaign in 2006," Raffo said in remarks published in Caretas, Peru's leading news magazine.

That Fujimori could seek his political future in either Japan or Peru underscores an extremely delicate position Tokyo has taken since he fled Peru almost two years ago in disgrace.

To many Japanese, Fujimori's rise to power in Peru continues to be a source of ethnic pride. Largely because of his ancestry, his presidency was widely hailed in Japan, by both the public and the government.

Fujimori fled Peru in November 2000 as a mounting corruption scandal triggered the implosion of his 10-year authoritarian government. He settled in Japan, the native country of his parents.

Peru has repeatedly called for Japan to extradite Fujimori. But Tokyo, unwilling to abandon the politician it once so strongly supported, says he cannot be extradited because he is a Japanese citizen. Peru, meanwhile, says he is a Peruvian citizen and must face Peruvian law.

Both are technically right. Though dual nationality is generally banned in Japan, the law is full of loopholes. Japanese officials say Fujimori and anyone else with dual nationality is expected to renounce one, but they have not yet forced him to do so.

Observers say the law is largely beside the point.

"The Japanese government has never searched for an interpretation of the law that didn't favor Fujimori — they've chosen what is most convenient to protect him," says Kazuo Ohgushi, a professor of comparative politics in Tokyo University's Faculty of Law.

Denise Ledgard, special legal counsel to the Peruvian Embassy in Tokyo, noted that the Ministry of Justice has the power to revoke citizenship when a Japanese national holds public office that "would substantially contradict his or her choice of Japanese nationality".

"Ultimately, it's a political matter," she said.

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