Some observers like to claim that nothing ever really changes in our ties with Japan.
My years in Japan suggest otherwise. At the time President Clinton took office, our bilateral ties faced two broad, and very fundamental, challenges. On the economic front, the perception had taken hold in the United States that Japan was unwilling to engage in fair competition. Americans worried about the competitive challenge Japan posed, and some argued that the scope of the problem created a new type of threat to America's national interests. While these fears have proven to be exaggerated, at the time, they were felt very keenly by many people.