  It is shown that when the mass matrix changes in orientation (rotates) in
generation space for changing energy scale, then the masses of the lower
generations are not given just by its eigenvalues. In particular, these masses
need not be zero even when the eigenvalues are zero. In that case, the strong
CP problem can be avoided by removing the unwanted $\theta$ term by a chiral
transformation in no contradiction with the nonvanishing quark masses
experimentally observed. Similarly, a rotating mass matrix may shed new light
on the problem of chiral symmetry breaking. That the fermion mass matrix may so
rotate with scale has been suggested before as a possible explanation for
up-down fermion mixing and fermion mass hierarchy, giving results in good
agreement with experiment.
