Laura Bush reads to Japanese second-graders

TOKYO (AP) _ Aided by a Japanese interpreter, Laura Bush on Monday read ``Curious George'' to 30 second-graders kneeling on a straw ``tatami'' mat floor at a downtown school. <br><br>Japanese

Monday, February 18th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TOKYO (AP) _ Aided by a Japanese interpreter, Laura Bush on Monday read ``Curious George'' to 30 second-graders kneeling on a straw ``tatami'' mat floor at a downtown school.

Japanese schoolchildren waving American flags greeted her arrival.

``Little children in America all love this book,'' she said of H.A. Rey's story about a monkey whose curiosity keeps leading him to new adventures _ and into new troubles.

Mrs. Bush donated several copies of the children's classic to the school.

The American first lady was accompanied by Princess Hisako, herself an author of two children's books. Hisako, the wife of Prince Takamado, graduated from Cambridge and is fluent in English.

Mrs. Bush was also shown a display of traditional Japanese dolls in court dresses, typically displayed during a girls' festival in early March.

After the visit, Mrs. Bush and former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., the wife of U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker, attended a luncheon with prominent Japanese women at the state guest house.

Mrs. Bush and about 15 other guests, including fashion designer Hanae Mori, sat on ``zabuton'' pillows around a low table in a Japanese-style room for a lunch of jellied shrimp, grilled fish and pickled vegetables from Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto.

___

President Bush's dinner outing in a trendy section of this Japanese capital resembled a campaign event, with the president waving and shaking hands with scores of diners and young women giggling and jumping up and down in delight after meeting him.

Surrounding streets were packed with onlookers hoping for a glimpse.

Before sitting down to a Western-style dinner table in a private room at restaurant Gonpachi, Bush strolled a balcony, waving to diners below before heading downstairs for handshakes.

He later hesitated upon entering the second-floor dining room, apparently unsure of whether to remove his shoes. But the floor was wooden, and that meant the shoes could stay.

The cozy, casual dinner at the restaurant, which specializes in yakitori, or grilled chicken on a skewer, was a treat from Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Bush was joined by Mrs. Bush and ambassador Baker and his wife.

On the menu: traditional Japanese egg custard, Kobe filet mignon, yakitori, rice, chicken soup, batter-fried shrimp and vegetables known as tempura, and strawberries and ice cream.

___

Bush began his first full day in Tokyo on Monday by cheering a display of ancient military skills as Japanese archers thundered by on horseback.

``Oh, yeah!'' Bush yelled, pumping his fist as each archer charged by, notched his arrow and blasted a clay or wooden target. ``Yeah!''

Bush attended with Mrs. Bush and Koizumi.

The competition, called the yabusame, dates back to the sixth century, when warriors performed their skills as a form of prayer. Originally, archers who missed their clay or wooden targets were obliged to commit suicide.

That practice went out of date in the 12th century after emperors realized they were losing too many skilled warriors.

Monday's archers, riding colorfully garbed horses, shot at three stationary targets while riding in a field at full gallop. Several missed their mark, but those who struck a target were applauded by Bush, Koizumi and other VIPs.

The leaders sat at a simple wooden table covered by a white cloth. The president leaned forward on his elbows, eager to see every archer.

The archers paraded before the table at the end of the competition. Koizumi bowed deeply. Bush nodded his head in a show of respect.

___

Afterward, the leaders met at a government conference center where Koizumi gave Bush a print of an archer on horseback. The archer was a caricature of Bush.

Apparently viewing the gift as a symbol of the war against terrorism, the president looked at it and said, ``We're fighting evil.''

Bush noted that none of the archers' arrows hit nearby U.S. reporters. ``They weren't aiming at you _ at my personal request,'' a grinning Bush told the White House press corps.

___

The archery display was conducted on the tree-lined grounds of the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to the 19th-century emperor who led Japan through its transformation from medieval times to the modern era.

Bush and the first lady walked hand-in-hand through the shrine's main gate, built from 1,700-year-old cypress trees from Taiwan. The couple was escorted along the shrine's cement square by a priest adorned in a flowing white robe.

After a few minutes inside, the Bushes emerged, stood at the top of the steps and waved to a small crowd.

``Great,'' he said when asked how he felt after the long flight from Washington. ``Top of the world. Such a beautiful day.''

Bush, 55, said he was last in Tokyo in 1975.

The shrine's grounds include 120,000 trees and 365 different species of animals.