Obama Cozies Up to Japan

Pajamas Media ^ | November 13 | Gordon G. Chang

[AJKauf]

The first — and most important — stopover on President Obama’s long-awaited trip to Asia has been cut in half as he delayed his departure by a day. In Tokyo, he will have just enough time to meet Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, drop in on the emperor and empress, and give a speech on America’s role in Asia.

In Asia, Japan is America’s “cornerstone” relationship. From Japanese ports and airfields, we base the forces that defend the South Koreans, guard the Taiwanese, and patrol contested sea lanes. Without Americans in Japan, Chinese warships and planes would soon vie for control of East Asia, from the North Pacific to the Malacca Strait.

So will we find ourselves without our crucial Japanese facilities? Today, that seems inconceivable. Americans have been basing troops there to defend Japan’s islands since the end of the Second World War. Yet the historic election of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in September — a landslide ending more than a half century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party — has unsettled the relationship between Washington and Tokyo, and the new Japanese leader could change the alliance in ways that weaken the bond that was once thought unshakable.

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[Doogle]

..because the big bad desk in the oval office don't applaud and show adulation like the new faces of people who don't yet realize how incompetent the puppet man is......

[AmericanInTokyo]

Hatoyama and Obama deserve each other.

But Japan and the USA deserve NEITHER of those two!!

[brownsfan]

I suspect that Obama has no affection for the Japanese. Long time US allies seem to get short shrift from President Hopey-Changey.

[Cicero]

Pot, meet Kettle.

[Zhang Fei]

And for his part, President Obama has tried to placate the Japanese by saying this week that he would be honored to receive invitations to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki sometime later in his presidency. The visits, which would be controversial both in the United States and Japan, would be the first for a sitting American president.

An official Ogabe visit (and yet another apology) to these cities would be disgusting, considering the vile atrocities that Japanese troops committed during WWII against POW's and civilians alike.

[1776 Reborn]

Japan’s new Prime Minister sounded like a complete dufose at their joint news conference this morning. He talked like he was the one with jet lag.

[Adder]

“The first — and most important — stopover...”

It only the most important if thats where he is going to strap the Goodyear radial kneepads to go begging the Chinese to keep bankrolling his failures.

Thats the whole point of the trip.

[Daveinyork]

He’s probably going to apologize for Pearl Harbor - for our carriers not being there to be bombed and sunk on December 7, 1941.

[Daveinyork]

He’s probably going to apologize for Pearl Harbor - for our carriers not being there to be bombed and sunk on December 7, 1941.

[Daveinyork]

He’s probably going to apologize for Pearl Harbor - for our carriers not being there to be bombed and sunk on December 7, 1941.

[Iowamerican]

First he’ll apologize for the Doolittle Raid that caused the Japanese to dislike and mistrust the U.S. and eventually apologize for the humiliation of forcing them to surrender and vow never again will the U.S. do that to anyone.

[AZLiberty]

Darn, I missed Japan’s regime change. Must not have been a very important event to get as little publicity as it did.

Does Hatoyama get his hair cut in Pyong-Yang?

[MNJohnnie]

Dear Reader,

So sorry, Japan even more broke then US. No buy your bonds.

[zeugma]

Care to give us a report of how Obama’s visit is being reported in Japan?

[AmericanInTokyo]

I am looking for something in Japanese that is not yet widely reported in our US MSM, which puts Obama in the worst possible light in Tokyo. Please stand by. ;-)