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TOKYO - Bono, the rock star and outspoken campaigner against poverty and AIDS, praised Japan's policies on those issues today, in a departure from his usual criticism of rich nations for not living up to expectations.
Following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the front man for U2 said the world could take a lesson from Japan.
"The world doesn't really understand that Japan in the '90s led the world not just as a percentage contribution to the world's poor but as the volume contribution," he told reporters at the prime minister's office.
"The world doesn't understand that Japan has had a lot of success in its aid and assistance in Southeast Asia in particular, and that there's a lot we can learn from Japan in applying this to the rest of the developing world."
Just over a week ago, Bono performed in a free open-air concert in Melbourne on the sidelines of a global summit of finance ministers and central bankers as part of protests demanding that the leaders step up the fight against poverty.
The singer said hundreds of thousands of AIDS patients were now receiving drugs as a result of a global fund initially proposed by Japan in 2000.
"I told the prime minister that this is one of the greatest ideas of the 20th century."
Bono, who gave Abe a pair of red Giorgio Armani sunglasses -- one of the "Red"-branded products whose profits are partly channelled to AIDS programmes -- said he was pleased with the Japanese leader's reaction to the gift.
"I've always seen George Bush looking at my sunglasses ... and George Bush never put them on," he said, referring to a similar meeting with the US president.
"The last pope put them on, and Prime Minister Abe -- very cool."
The Red campaign, the brainchild of the U2 singer and Bobby Shriver, nephew of the late US President John F. Kennedy, has raised about $10 million in Britain since its launch there earlier this year.
But Bono expressed disappointment there was no talk about music, which would surely have come up had he met Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, known as a music buff and an avid Elvis Presley fan.
"No, we didn't discuss music. Next meeting, I'll get him on that -- 'What's your favourite album?'"
- REUTERS
