Under the Influence: Upping the Alliance With Japan

Under the Influence: Upping the Alliance With Japan

It is downright striking how little attention the wider American discussion over foreign policy pays to Japan. After all, Japan still claims the title of the world's second largest economy (even if China is expected to overtake it next year). Its relationship with the U.S. has been as intimate as any other between major powers in the last 50 years. U.S. troops are still stationed there 64 years after the end of World War II. And to complicate matters, experts say there has been a longstanding worry on the Japanese side of being abandoned by the Americans.

Past American presidents have contributed to the problem. Bill Clinton literally flew over Japan on his way to meet with the Chinese leadership in Beijing. That didn't help. In the decade that preceded his rule, Japan-bashing had become a popular American pastime. It seemingly reached a peak with the publication of "The Coming War with Japan," a ludicrous book whose author had not used "war" as a metaphor.

Certainly, Japan was getting rich at the time, and it seemed they were getting stronger, to boot. But the reality was that Americans were getting needlessly worked up. In the early 1990s, Japan's bubble burst. The U.S. quit worrying about the supposed economic monster and instead turned to other matters -- such as Somalia, the Balkans, and spreading capitalism and democracy around the world.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review