TOKYO -- Japanese people will not soon forget the summer of 2021, when the Tokyo Olympics took place amid a declared state of emergency prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The summer of 1971, exactly 50 years ago, also burns brightly in the memory of Japanese people. Henry Kissinger, the U.S. national security adviser at the time, secretly visited China and met then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Following Kissinger's trip, President Richard Nixon surprised the world with an announcement on July 15 that he would visit China in 1972.
