JAPAN WATCH : Park Ploy

Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. only wants the best deal he can get on a concessionaire’s holdings at Yosemite National Park. And that’s OK. But the way he is going about it sometimes sounds suspiciously like Japan-bashing.

The fuss involves the sale of MCA Inc., an entertainment giant, to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., an electronics giant.

With MCA go the hotels, restaurants and other enterprises operated by Yosemite Park & Curry Co., whose contract with the Park Service expires in 1993.

Matsushita recognized that foreign ownership of property at Yosemite, as much a national monument as a park, might not look good. So it decided to try to sell Curry Co. to an American buyer and put interim profits in escrow for a park foundation.

Lujan’s office has not approved the plan, apparently still hoping that Matsushita will donate Curry properties that may be worth $300 million, something no publicly held company wants to do. Legally, the Curry sale probably can go through, but a sale to an American firm would go more smoothly if Matsushita and the Interior Department worked side by side.

It could be that the longer Lujan holds out, the stronger the chance that Curry will remain in foreign hands. That would be an ironic outcome of his campaign. But the Interior secretary must be careful. It’s smart to take a public negotiating position designed to drive a price down. And a lot of Americans would feel uncomfortable with the Yosemite concession in foreign hands. Just don’t go overboard.