Despite the recent high-sounding diplomatic rhetoric, the US-Japan alliance is in the doldrums. It's not so much that there are strains between both sides; more that security relations are listless.
When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Tokyo in February, she said the alliance is 'a cornerstone of our foreign policy'. Later that month, President Barack Obama welcomed Prime Minister Taro Aso to the White House, saying: 'The friendship between the United States and Japan is extraordinarily important to our country.'
The Japanese ambassador to the US, Ichiro Fujisaki, defended Japan's contributions last month, noting Japan would host an international conference this month to promote economic aid to Afghanistan, where Japan is paying the salaries of 80,000 Afghan policemen for six months.
Privately, however, those engaged in maintaining the alliance point to several corrosive elements:
Japan's political roller coaster: Since Junichiro Koizumi stepped down as prime minister in September 2006, Japan has had three leaders - Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, and the incumbent, Mr Aso - and six defence ministers. Much of Mr Koizumi's initiative in the realm of security went out with him. Moreover, Japan must hold parliamentary elections by September, with both leading parties in disarray.
Defence dissatisfaction: US officers, usually understanding of the political and budgetary constraints under which Japanese officers must operate, have privately become impatient. 'The Japanese didn't pull their weight,' said one officer about Japanese troops recently opting out of the annual Cobra Gold manoeuvres alongside US, Thai and Singaporean troops in northern Thailand.
