Japanese leaders much prefer to act in the background, behind a curtain of multinational consensus and collective endeavor. Now, there are signs that Japan is beginning to go beyond whipping out the checkbook in response to major international developments. These are encouraging initiatives by a country that has long been diplomatically hamstrung by past transgressions. Japan's former imperialism and brutal occupation of much of East Asia has not been forgotten, and the resulting tensions have made Tokyo reticent. After its World War II defeat, the country became virtually a protectorate of the U.S. and surrogate for Washington's foreign policy, a relationship that carries over to this day.
Japan is home to the largest number of American troops in the Asia-Pacific region.
The country's Constitution bars it from dispatching military forces overseas. Such factors have also contributed to an often under-assertive diplomatic posture. Even now, Japan is being criticized by world leaders for not doing enough to help stabilize Asia's crisis-struck economies. Lately, Japan appears more willing to flex its diplomatic muscles, however atrophied from under-use. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Tokyo was an important financial contributor to the U.S.-led counterattack.