Tokyo’s Newfound Swagger

[Bonobo]

Source: Newsweek

Barack Obama hasn't even arrived yet, but Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's new prime minister, has already gotten everything he wanted from the president.

Since Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office two months ago, anxious Washingtonians have worried that Japan's new administration will wreck one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. Things got messier after Hatoyama, who was already misunderstood as an anti-American, pursued his campaign pledge to renegotiate the relocation of a controversial Marine airfield in Okinawa. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was so miffed that he refused to be wined and dined by his counterparts during his visit to Tokyo last month. Shortly after, The Wall Street Journal warned of a "widening gap in the U.S.-Japan security alliance" and criticized Hatoyama for "putting on a kabuki show on defense." Washington seemed unwilling to put up with Tokyo's new attitude. Or so it seemed.

But in the run-up to President Barack Obama's arrival in Tokyo Friday—the first leg of his first trip to Asia—things changed. The rhetoric vanished, bonhomie prevailed, and Obama—who is expected to refer obliquely to Okinawa during his meeting with Hatoyama—will punt on the problem for the purpose of cooperation on climate change, nuclear nonproliferation, and Afghanistan. (Tokyo pledged this week it will dole out $5 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan over the next five years.) These countries may someday strike a deal on Okinawa, but what's more important for Hatoyama is that he already got what he wanted most: respect.

...This is a classic case of good cop/bad cop (the White House and the State Department are the good cops, and the Pentagon is the bad cop). But whatever outcome the two sides extract, what's clear now is that Tokyo no longer wants to be a servant of the U.S., and that Washington is willing to listen and be patient with Tokyo's newfound swagger. And that while Tokyo still views the U.S. as its most important partner, it will no longer see the alliance as a zero-sum matter and sacrifice its other agendas in Asia. (That explains why Hatoyama, in defiance of diplomatic protocol, will leave Obama behind in Tokyo so he can arrive on time for the opening reception of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's leaders meeting in Singapore on Saturday. Obama will catch up with the meeting the next day.) Most of all, the lesson for both countries is that they can get what they want—meaning Hatoyama will already have fulfilled a part of his campaign pledge—with almost no cost: the United States will almost certainly get its base in some satisfactory form, and Tokyo will remain a reliable ally, and all that symbolic squabbling will soon be forgotten.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/id/222453

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History is open to many interpretations and often it depends on when you start the clock, but in one sense, the last 150 years of US-Japan relations could be viewed as Japan trying to regain their footing after being confronted with Western colonial powers during their isolation back in 1853.

[msongs]

1. too bad they chose to kill so many people trying to "regain their footing" nt

[Bonobo]

2. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... nt

[pundaint]

3. President Obama has diplomacy nailed!

Even when we fire him because he doesn't understand as well how to wield power in our interests at home, we should keep him on as Secretary of State.

[depakid]

4. I've heard the suggestion more than once America would be better off if the two roles were reversed

That Obama's approach on foreign policy is brilliant, but that Hillary possessed far more effective skills for getting things done- right- on the domestic front.

[DonCoquixote]

5. Groan

If you think this country is governed too far to the right now, imagine if Ms. HIllary, the brains behind mandated insurance, was in. Oh, yes she would wield power more, she would squish Kucinich like a bug!