FROM one end of the telephone came the relieved voice of Nobuo Inoue. The captain of Idaten, who had been abducted along with two crewmembers, was notifying the authorities of their release. The three were at the time in the southern part of Satun Province, Thailand. Masahiro Takagi, an official of Japan's Department of Foreign Affairs, was no less happy when he shared the good news with journalists last week.

It was in fact the comforting en