Anyone shocked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ blunt language in Tokyo and the equally blunt Japanese response haven’t been paying attention to the U.S.-Japan relationship lately. That, indeed, is part of the problem, as Washington became lulled by a Japan eager to take on broader global roles under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier this decade. A succession of weak leaders after Koizumi doomed the Liberal Democratic Party, and a wholesale change in government happened last month with the accession of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). All through that process, coordination on U.S.-Japan policy continued, yet it did not fully recognize the deeper currents of change under the surface.
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