THE IRAN--CONTRA HEARINGS : Anyway, ‘In-NO-way’ Is the Easy Way

WASHINGTON —  To many of his Capitol Hill colleagues, he is known as “Sen. Anyway.” Long ago, Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) gave up correcting the multiple mispronunciations of his name.

But for those who want to know, the veteran legislator who presided Tuesday over the opening session of the congressional investigation into the Iran- contra scandal has an “easy” version for non-Japanese speakers. Press Secretary Gregg Takayama advises inquirers that “In-NO-way” will do, although it should correctly be “Een-no-OO-way.”

“Inouye means ‘above the well,’ ” said Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga (Mat-SOO-na-ga), Inouye’s Hawaii colleague and, unlike Inouye, a fluent Japanese speaker. “My name means ‘eternal pine’ and, by poetic extension, ‘love,’ because love is eternal.”