A Japanese diplomat, asked what effect the election of the Democratic Party of Japan and a new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, would have on Japan's alliance with the US, was succinct: 'Nobody knows.' A US official, asked the same question, sighed: 'We don't know yet.'
The Japan-US alliance, considered until now to have been vital to the best interests of both nations, has entered a time of great uncertainty, for two reasons.
First, the election of the DPJ to the control of the national Diet and the choice of Hatoyama - due to take office tomorrow - has brought to power a band of inexperienced politicians led by a prime minister who has issued vague, meandering and apparently contradictory statements on foreign policy.
Second, is the absence of an articulated policy towards Japan by US President Barack Obama, other than platitudes, the dispatch of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to bring greetings but little of substance to Japan last winter, and the appointment of an ambassador, John Roos, whose only credentials are his political fund-raising.
Hatoyama wrote an opinion article in the Japanese monthly journal Voice that, when translated excerpts appeared in the US, startled some Americans with its perceived anti-US tone. Hatoyama, asserting that his statements had been taken out of context, had the entire essay translated. The anti-US tone remained, but was diluted.
Hatoyama, saying the influence of the US is declining, wondered: 'How should Japan maintain its political and economic independence and protect its national interest when caught between the United States, which is fighting to retain its position as the world's dominant power, and China, which is seeking to become one?' He suggested that an integrated East Asian community would be in Japan's interest.
