While the veneer of politeness demanded by their culture obscured it, Takahashi despised the prime minister and was certain that the politician felt the same way about him. It mattered little, though. The power and wealth of the Takahashi family combined with his popularity would make it political suicide to try to remove him from his position as the commander of the defense forces.

The prime minister put down the teapot and continued his thought, choosing his words carefully. “You’re pushing too hard, General. You’re fanning flames that could consume us all.”

Takahashi responded only with a brief, properly contrite nod.

“And you,” Sanetomi said, shifting his gaze to Himura. “The leak from your organization that China may have been involved in the attempt on the general’s life was unforgivable. Demonstrations in China and at home have grown in size and intensity. There are concerns of civil unrest.”

“My apologies, Prime Minister. I assure you that we’re doing everything in our power to track the source of the leak.”

Sanetomi leaned back in his chair and examined both men for a moment. “It matters very little at this point. The damage is done and I find myself forced to be the first to pull back from the brink. After all, we can’t have the Chinese making another attempt on the general’s life. He is far too important to Japan for us to lose.”

Takahashi nodded the appropriate acknowledgment of the man’s words, but saw them as a hollow piece of flattery. “And what will that entail, Prime Minister?”

“I’m working directly with President Castilla to put together a series of concessions on both sides in order to calm the situation.”

“Concessions?” Himura said.

“We will propose that the Chinese use their censorship capabilities to extinguish anti-Japanese sentiment on the Internet and to crack down on demonstrations. They’ll pull back their military from the Senkakus and agree to join us in face-to-face talks regarding those islands. They’ll also cancel their most offensive anti-Japanese television programs and agree to work with some of our entertainment people to develop ones with a more modern outlook.”

Takahashi didn’t bother hiding his contempt. After everything that had happened, the prime minister’s answer was to develop television programs? It was beyond absurd.

“I assume we will have to provide similar concessions,” Himura said, clearly concerned that Takahashi wouldn’t be able to control his tongue. And on this occasion, the intelligence chief might have been right.

“It’s the nature of politics, I’m afraid,” Sanetomi said calmly. “We will publicly remove a number of the people they consider war criminals from the Yasukuni Shrine. We will work with their historians to rewrite the sections of our school history books in order to…” His voice faded for a moment as he again considered his phrasing. “To more neutrally reflect our soldiers’ actions during the war.”