Nakasone in L.A. for Talks With Reagan

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday for talks with President Reagan about the U.S.-Japan trade gap--and on other subjects too, perhaps.

Nakasone’s departure from Japan for his fifth personal encounter with the American President was marked by leftist demonstrations protesting the summit meeting.

The protests, which led to at least four arrests in Tokyo, included a rocket attack on the American Consulate building in Kobe.

The rockets apparently did no damage, and the prime minister--who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:10 p.m., accompanied by Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe--made no mention of the incident.

In a news service interview before takeoff from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, he talked of the coming meeting and the possibility that he might be able to seize the opportunity to “help set the atmosphere for a friendly negotiating table” between Reagan and Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

“I’ll remind the President that the United States and Japan account for 30% of the world’s gross national product and have a great stake in world peace and prosperity,” he said.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko are scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, next Monday and Tuesday for talks intended to lay the groundwork for a resumption of arms control negotiations.

On the subject of America’s unfavorable trade balance--expected to reach a record level of $35 billion for 1984--Nakasone declined to confirm Tokyo reports that he will form a Cabinet-level committee to oversee opening of Japan’s markets to increased exports.

But he said he will urge Reagan to decrease U.S. interest rates and help align the value of the dollar to lower levels.

Nakasone has pledged “tacit support” for the White House’s Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as the “Star Wars” defense system, but he has declined to say whether the two leaders will discuss the plan in Los Angeles, saying only that he will call for new U.S.-Soviet arms talks.

After meeting with Reagan at the Century Plaza today, Nakasone plans to fly to Hawaii in the afternoon for a visit before returning home Saturday.