News that civilian guests were at the helm of the US submarine which struck and sank a Japanese fishing vessel last week has been greeted with anger and disbelief by the Japanese survivors and their relatives.
Reversing its earlier cautious stance, the Japanese government yesterday expressed concern about the civilian involvement in the tragedy, which left nine Japanese missing and presumed dead in the Pacific near Hawaii.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr Yasuo Fukuda, said Tokyo was asking Washington to clarify any connection between the accident and the guests.
The chief mate of the Japanese ship, Mr Ryoichi Miya, speaking in Honolulu, said it was unforgiveable for civilians to be allowed near the submarine's controls. Relatives of the Japanese students rescued expressed similar sentiments.
The Japanese government said it had received confirmation from the US navy that two out of a total of 16 civilian guests on board were sitting at the controls of the USS Greeneville when the accident occurred.
Pressure is mounting on the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, with members of a coalition partner calling for him to step down and his righthand man, Mr Fukuda, adding to criticism over his handling of the submarine tragedy.
An unnamed official of the New Komeito party, a key coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Mr Mori should go. "It would be best for him to step down. I wonder if Mr Mori himself is not fed up," he said.
The chief cabinet secretary criticised the Prime Minister's decision to continue playing golf after hearing about the submarine sinking. "Personally, I think he should not have left to play golf to begin with," Mr Fukuda added.
Two opinion polls in the past 10 days have shown the Prime Minister has become Japan's third most unpopular leader of recent times, with an approval rate as low as 14 per cent.
Meanwhile, Japan has protested to Russia after several Russian bombers briefly intruded into Japanese airspace twice yesterday, the first such incident since 1995. Four bombers entered Japanese airspace near Rebun island, off Hokkaido, and remained there for about three minutes, a Defence Agency spokesman said.
The four Russian planes flew out of Japan's airspace after Japanese military jets scrambled in response, he said, but two other Russian bombers entered Japanese airspace again for about three minutes.