. . . And a Misfire by the First Lady?

Barbara Bush, accompanying her husband on his first overseas trip as President, vowed to be a quieter First Lady.

Arriving in Japan on Thursday on the eve of Emperor Hirohito’s funeral, Mrs. Bush had hoped to keep a low profile but stirred controversy instead when she reversed an earlier stand on gun control that was at odds with her husband’s views.

Mrs. Bush had tea Thursday with Naoko Takeshita, the Japanese prime minister’s wife, and dinner with several prominent Japanese women. However, she planned no public events on this first stop of President Bush’s visit to the Far East “because the most important thing is she’s here accompanying her husband--and it’s a funeral,” Anna Perez, Mrs. Bush’s press secretary, told reporters.

But Mrs. Bush’s hopes of slipping into Tokyo unnoticed were dashed when reporters were advised of what appeared to be either a reversal or a censoring of her earlier statement on gun control.

Comments a Mistake?

Mrs. Bush had said in recent interviews that she favors banning the AK-47, the semiautomatic assault rifle used by a gunman Jan. 17 to kill five children and wound 29 others on a Stockton elementary school playground.

Asked several weeks ago by the Associated Press if the AK-47 should be banned, Mrs. Bush replied, “Absolutely.”

President Bush said later that he does not support efforts in several states to outlaw the AK-47. So Mrs. Bush put out the word here Thursday that her earlier comments had been a mistake.

“She doesn’t know anything about guns,” Perez said. “She’s afraid of guns. I think she was thinking of fully automatic weapons.”

Perez said the First Lady would not be talking any more about “controversial” issues because “she has felt for many years that the opinions that are important are those of her husband.”

Perez characterized as “an educated guess” speculation that Bush or others in the White House had expressed displeasure to Mrs. Bush about her remarks.

“When she does discuss controversial issues, it takes the spotlight off issues she’d like to draw attention to, which are literacy, homelessness, mothers and children, and public-private sector partnerships,” Perez said. “Gun control is not her focus.”

Perez said Mrs. Bush’s vow of silence should not be interpreted as a statement that women should be seen and not heard.

“It means she has a right to express an opinion or not express one,” Perez said. “She has seen the focus shifting to these other issues. She is concerned about it. She wants to be as helpful to her husband as possible.”

Discreet Visit Over Tea

The press had only a glimpse of Mrs. Bush on Thursday when she arrived at the residence of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita to have tea with Mrs. Takeshita, who is rarely seen or photographed by the Japanese. During a few moments when photographers were allowed in the room, the women were overheard discussing Mrs. Bush’s 11th and newest grandchild, Ashley Bush, who was born in Denver this month.

In the evening, Mrs. Bush dined privately at her hotel with a professor of international relations and wives of diplomats and businessmen.

Today she plans to attend the funeral and have tea with Yolanda Cecilia Salinas, wife of Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Mrs. Bush, Perez said, thinks that Mrs. Salinas is “an ally and a neighbor.” President Bush was planning to meet with more than a dozen foreign leaders but not with the president of Mexico.