Roland Kelts: Obama in Japan: What a Difference a Bad Year Makes
[Roland Kelts is the author of “Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US,” and a guest scholar at the University of Tokyo. He divides his time between New York and Tokyo.]
President Obama arrived in Tokyo today, exactly one year to the day of his first official trip to Japan as commander-in-chief. He is here to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokohama, but his itinerary includes a brief “personal” excursion to the Great Buddha, a 44-foot tall bronze statue in Kamakura, which Mr. Obama first visited as a boy with his mother. While it is safe to say that the seven-and-a-half centuries old Buddha has changed very little since last November, or even since Mr. Obama’s childhood encounter, the state of his host nation has shifted significantly....
And then “Japanification” hit. Commentators in the US and elsewhere began to write about Japan’s sluggish economy as a warning to the rest of the developed world. Conservative fiscal policy combined with scant consumer spending would result in a deflationary spiral (see Japan!), and Japan soon became the favorite “whipping boy” of the global chattering classes. When China superseded Japan as the world’s second-largest economy in August, commentators across the globe nodded: We told you so....
Both Japan and America, host and Mr. Obama, are in entirely new straits as they reconvene this weekend. The former has been humiliated by its neighbors, and is rushing back to the arms of its post-war ally. The latter has been belittled by his dubious midterm American electorate, and hopes Japan will restore faith in American power, soft and hard.
In short: They need each other badly, and maybe more than ever.
Read entire article at CS Monitor
President Obama arrived in Tokyo today, exactly one year to the day of his first official trip to Japan as commander-in-chief. He is here to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokohama, but his itinerary includes a brief “personal” excursion to the Great Buddha, a 44-foot tall bronze statue in Kamakura, which Mr. Obama first visited as a boy with his mother. While it is safe to say that the seven-and-a-half centuries old Buddha has changed very little since last November, or even since Mr. Obama’s childhood encounter, the state of his host nation has shifted significantly....
And then “Japanification” hit. Commentators in the US and elsewhere began to write about Japan’s sluggish economy as a warning to the rest of the developed world. Conservative fiscal policy combined with scant consumer spending would result in a deflationary spiral (see Japan!), and Japan soon became the favorite “whipping boy” of the global chattering classes. When China superseded Japan as the world’s second-largest economy in August, commentators across the globe nodded: We told you so....
Both Japan and America, host and Mr. Obama, are in entirely new straits as they reconvene this weekend. The former has been humiliated by its neighbors, and is rushing back to the arms of its post-war ally. The latter has been belittled by his dubious midterm American electorate, and hopes Japan will restore faith in American power, soft and hard.
In short: They need each other badly, and maybe more than ever.