March 2011

Japan Center for International Exchange

Reinvigorating US-Japan Relations
Hitoshi Tanaka, Senior Fellow, JCIE
An earlier version of this article was prepared as a background paper, under the title “US-Japan Relations: Past, Present,and Future,” for the New Shimoda Conference, held in Tokyo on February 22, 2011.

There has long been a perception gap underlying
US-Japan relations. In the 50 years since the revised
US-Japan Security Treaty was signed in 1960, numerous developments have been seen to be putting therelationship in crisis. There was the “Nixon Shock,”when the US president visited China without consulting or even notifying Japan. There was the time when
the US secretary of state proclaimed that Japan was“insensitive” because it was importing oil from Iranduring the hostage situation. There was the incident
in which Toshiba Machine violated the Coordinating
Committee for Export to Communist Areas agreements by selling industrial equipment to the Soviet
Union during the height of the Cold War. The mid1980s saw economic friction between the UnitedStates and Japan peak. And then there were tensions
surrounding Japan’s contribution to the first Gulf War.
On Okinawa, there have been incidences of rape by
American soldiers and the conflict over basing issues.
On top of all of that, there was the Ehime Maru incident, in which several Japanese high school students

died when their fishery training boat was hit by a US
Navy submarine.
In the United States, Japan is often perceived as notadequately fulfilling its role as an alliance partner. At
the same time, many in Japan hold a deep-seated perception that their country is being treated like a dependent by the United States. The Japanese side has been
particularly prone to making proclamations that therelationship is in crisis every time there is an isolatedincident. Recognizing this perception gap between thetwo countries, every time there is a US-Japan summit,
our leaders speak with a common voice to emphasizethat the United States and Japan enjoy an “equal partnership,” a phrase that was uttered especially often byformer Prime Minister Hatoyama.

Managing Relations
The two countries have come to understand that managing US-Japan relations requires bearing in mind the different roles that each country plays. Japan has expanded
its role so that it can take on greater responsibilities inthe international community, and the United Stateshas begun showing greater concern for Japan’s sensitivities regarding the United States. On the securityside, not only has Japan strengthened its contributions
by increasing its defense budget and expanding its hostnation support for US troops, but it has also shown
progress in adapting its security strategy. For example,
over the past two decades, Japan began participatingin peacekeeping operations, created the Guidelines forJapan-US Defense Cooperation, passed legislation tobetter enable it to defend itself and support operations
by its allies, and dispatched Japan Self-Defense Forces
to the Indian Ocean to help with refueling for US-led
forces in Afghanistan and to Iraq to provide humanitarian assistance for reconstruction.
On the economic side, Japan’s official development
assistance grew rapidly, and the country has been promoting free trade and deregulation. The United States
has welcomed these actions, emphasizing consultation with Japan as an alliance partner and attempting to deal with sensitive issues quickly. For the mostpart, the governments of both countries have managed
the alliance relationship effectively, proving the lateAmbassador Mansfield’s assertion that “the US-Japan
relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none.”of East Asia that was cited in the 1996 US-Japan Joint
Declaration on Security.

Has There Been a Substantive Change in
US-Japan Relations?
Despite the overwhelming presence of these important common interests, US-Japan relations have been
showing clear signs of change. In both countries,
simple terms such as “Japan bashing,” “Japan passing,”
and even “Japan nothing” have been thrown around.
American interest in Japan has been fading, and thetendency in Japan to view the United States as the hegemonic power is also fading.
It is not unusual that, as time passes, the form andrelative importance of a bilateral relationship would undergo changes. The statistics on trade, investment, andpeople-to-people exchange attest to the fact that the mutual importance that each country holds for the otherhas decreased, and there are several reasons for this.
The main reason is that the relative influence of boththe United States and Japan has fallen while the relative
influence of rising countries, most notably China, hasincreased. In particular, the rapid market expansion insome countries has meant a major change in the flowof goods, services, finance, technology, and people. In
2004, the United States ceded the role of Japan’s biggest
trading partner to China. The share of Japan’s foreign
direct investment that goes to the United States was almost halved between 2005 and 2009, from 27 percent
to 14 percent, and US trade with China has grown to 2.5
times the size of its trade with Japan. It is only naturalthat a country would take a strong interest in anotherwith which it has an expanding economic relationship.
Greater interdependence with countries like Chinathat are at different levels of economic development
and that have different systems of governance brings
with it some difficult challenges. China remains inmany ways a developing country and does not sharethe same values as the industrialized democracies.
As seen in the 41-point joint statement released at
the conclusion of the US-China Summit in Januaryof this year, the problems the two countries face intheir relationship are both challenging and numerous. Similarly, the responses to the Senkaku Island
dispute illustrate that relations between China andA Preponderance of Shared Interests
There is no doubt that both countries have reaped important benefits from the alliance relationship. For theUnited States, partnership with Japan is important because the latter shares its democratic values, is one of
the world’s largest economies, and serves as the cornerstone of the US forward deployment strategy in East
Asia. Japan does not possess its own nuclear or otheroffensive weapons, and its security options are strictly
constrained by its constitution. Therefore, the protection it receives from the United States, including theUS nuclear umbrella, is indispensable. But the benefitsof the alliance extend beyond just the United Statesand Japan; it has played a major role in maintaining
stability throughout Asia Pacific. Even after the end ofthe Cold War, there is little room for debate about thenecessity of preserving some guarantee that regional
security can be maintained, given the uncertain future
EAST ASIA INSIGHTS

2March 2011

Japan are also strained. One cannot dismiss the possibility that, if not handled properly, those tensions
could develop into a confrontation. It is also not unexpected that a country like the United States would
shift its attention to those countries with which its
relations are most problematic.
The fact that foreign policy attention has shiftedor that interest has waned does not necessarily mean
there will be a substantive shift in US-Japan relations,a relationship in which the two countries still haveshared values and important common interests. Still, isthere a rationale for reinvigorating US-Japan relations
in response to this apparent decrease in the relative importance of the relationship?

key countries in East Asia, and its participation in theEast Asia Summit. Still, the US-Japan alliance remains
the most important relationship for maintaining stability in East Asia in this changing world order.
The United States and Japan should welcome China’s
impressive economic growth and our increasingly interdependent relationships with China. Nevertheless,there are still major problems with China’s domestic
governance, and depending on its domestic situation,
it is capable of being more aggressive internationally.
We witnessed signs of that in 2010 when China took ahard-line stance on issues such as Google’s withdrawal
from the country, the US sale of weapons to Taiwan,
and the Dalai Lama’s visit to the White House. It also
took a more aggressive stance on the South China Sea,
calling it a part of its “core interests,” and took measures
to assert its claim to the Senkaku Islands. Its reaction
to the Nobel Prize was another example of the government appearing not to be concerned about how its behavior is perceived by others. This attitude is probably
the result of China gaining confidence through its impressive economic growth and its hosting of the Beijing
Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo.

New Prospects for US-Japan Relations
US-Japan relations have evolved as a result of the structural changes in international relations brought about
by the Cold War system and its subsequent demise.
But the international system is changing again, and theUS-Japan relationship cannot escape the impact of thatchange. Even if the United States remains the sole superpower, its relative power has declined. Not only has
US military and economic strength declined in relative terms, but the country’s “moral authority” has also
declined as a result of the Lehman Shock and of thelack of legitimacy for the Iraq War. Meanwhile, Japan’s
lost decade or two and the country’s political fragility, as evidenced by its having changed prime minister
five times—once a year—(and foreign minister seventimes) since the Koizumi administration ended, havedrastically lowered its stock.
But we cannot continue doing the same things we
did in the past while the international system continues to change; we have to come up with new solutions.
One characteristic of the current structural change isthat other nations are coming to the fore and altering
the relative balance of power. The world in which theUnited States took the lead and served as a centripetal
force has now become a world in which tensions caneasily turn to outright conflict, with the center of gravity in world affairs shifting toward East Asia. We areseeing signs that the United States is beginning to respond to these changes in its policy toward China andNorth Korea, its strengthening of partnerships withEAST ASIA INSIGHTS

Reinvigorating US-Japan Relations
It is unfortunate that the questions surrounding therelocation of Marine Air Base Futenma have becomea major source of turmoil in US-Japan relations. Thedecision to move Futenma to Henoko Bay in Nago
was confirmed by both countries twice, once during
Liberal Democratic Party rule and again under theDemocratic Party of Japan. Given the sentiments ofthe people of Okinawa, going through with the relocation will be incredibly difficult. On the other hand, if it
does not happen as planned, the United States will lose
confidence in Japan’s reliability.
Therefore, the most important step right now is tocreate an environment in which the relocation can takeplace as planned or in which some alternative plan canbe implemented. The Japanese government must continue talking with Okinawa. At the same time, the roleof the US-Japan alliance in East Asia’s evolving regional
order needs to be reconfirmed, and the respective rolesof the US military and the Japan Self-Defense Forcesneed to be clarified. The Futenma issue is integrally
3March 2011

related to these larger issues, and unless the generalpublic understands that broader context, progress cannot be made on the basing issue. From that perspective,the United States and Japan should consider taking thefollowing steps to help reinvigorate the relationship.

by the prime minister and the president is desirable andwe might need to consider creating another set of USJapan defense cooperation guidelines.

3. Focus on East Asia’s Regional Architecture

There is a need for greater discussion on the future development and direction of East Asia’s architecture, including ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN
Regional Forum, and the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum. The United States and Japan needto sort out their own thinking on the region’s economic architecture—including on such initiatives as
the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Free Trade Area of
the Asia-Pacific, and the Comprehensive Economic
Partnership for East Asia—and come to a mutual understanding through bilateral dialogue.

1. Create a US-Japan Wisemen’s Group

Government-to-government talks on their own are insufficient for creating consensus on the areas in which
US-Japan relations should move forward. Instead, experts from various sectors from the United States andJapan should be convened to discuss the relationship interms that the general public in both countries can easily understand. The key topics outlined below should be
discussed both by a wisemen’s group as well as throughextensive dialogue between the two governments.

2. Reaffirm the US-Japan Alliance Structure in
East Asia

4. Cooperate on Global Challenges

We need to explore ways to strengthen cooperation onsuch global issues as communicable diseases, energy,
and the environment, as well as on outer space andother aspects of the global commons. Deeper exploration is also needed on ways to reform the structures ofglobal governance, such as the United Nations, the G8,
and the G20.

The 1996 US-Japan Joint Declaration on Security reaffirmed the role of the US-Japan alliance in the post–Cold
War era and provided the basis for the 1997 US-Japan
defense guidelines. The US-Japan alliance needs to bereaffirmed in light of the new international system, particularly given the major changes occurring within EastAsia. We need to create a structure that can adequately
maintain stability vis-à-vis North Korea and a potentially more assertive China. At the same time, we needto develop confidence among China, the United States,
and Japan. In addition, we need to build an open regional framework that can address such nontraditional
security challenges as disaster relief, maritime security,proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism. Japan needs to reexamine its own role in international security—especially in the region—including
by giving closer scrutiny to the issue of collective selfdefense. Based on that, a new joint security declaration

5. Expand Exchanges

US-Japan exchange has declined in recent years. We
need to reexamine our approaches to such areas ascooperation on science and technology, cultural exchange, intellectual exchange, parliamentary exchange,exchanges of business leaders, student exchange, andinter-university exchange.
Hitoshi Tanaka is a senior fellow at JCIE and chairmanof the Institute for International Strategy. He ­previously
served as Japan’s deputy minister for ­foreign affairs.

East Asia Insights
East Asia Insights is an occasional newsletter focusing on East Asia community building
from the Japanese perspective.
Published by: Tadashi Yamamoto, President, JCIE
Please direct any comments or questions to eainsights@jcie.or.jp.
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March 2011