Japanese Not Sold on Hope and Change

Of equal importance as the Japanese skepticism of Obama is this WaPo reporter's surprise at such skepticism. Oh, and the fact that his entire story was compiled by surfing the internet. Hell, that's what I do. I would expect a "real journalist" to actually put his boots on the ground.

Surfing Japanese news Web sites for commentaries on the Obama victory from a key U.S. ally, I was taken aback by the skeptical, even negative, tone that prevailed. "Obama Likely to Stress Importance of China," read one headline in the mass-circulation daily Yomiuri Shimbun, implying that the new administration will relegate Japan to the foreign policy back seat. The economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun fretted about the likelihood that the Democratic president and Congress may concoct a massive rescue package for troubled U.S. automakers and about the potential fallout for the Japanese car industry. Everyone seemed to agree that Obama, who has talked about withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq to concentrate on Afghanistan, may well put pressure on Japan to send ground troops to the latter country -- something the nation's postwar pacifist leaders don't feel prepared to do.
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The most astounding article appeared in Sentaku, a monthly magazine with a reputation for objectivity and solid analysis. Writing in anticipation of an Obama victory, the magazine raised most of the same charges the Republicans had leveled against the Democratic candidate, including Obama's associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former Weather Underground leader William Ayers and "communist and socialist professors." It called him "the most dubious character in history to occupy the White House." Criticizing Obama's foreign policy statements as "abstract" and "strings of empty words such as 'consultation' and 'cooperation,' " the article concluded that under Obama, the United States would lose its position of global leadership and drag the world into "enormous chaos."

Why are the Japanese feeling so much less positive about an Obama presidency than the rest of the world?

Japanese media seem concerned that officials there have few contacts with Obama or his advisers and that Obama doesn't seem to know much about Japan. As the world's second-largest economy and a close U.S. ally, Japan should have no problem communicating its wishes and concerns to Washington. But the Japanese strongly believe that only personal connections can affect U.S. policies.

The Japanese may also be anxious about Obama because of his party affiliation. The last time there was a Democrat in the White House, Japan's huge trade surpluses with the United States made it a favorite whipping boy for many U.S. politicians. The Clinton administration, which had made fixing the economy "Job One," demanded that Japan set numerical targets for importing U.S. products. And it tasked its abrasive trade representative, Mickey Kantor, with keeping up the pressure as Tokyo resisted what it perceived as a demand for managed trade. Tokyo's then-ambassador to Washington, Takakazu Kuriyama, said he had never seen so much distrust between officials of the two governments in his 30-plus years of diplomatic service.

The Japanese strongly associate Democrats with protectionism, which may make Obama seem problematic. "Concerns of Resurgent Protectionism," a Japanese Industrial Daily headline proclaimed as it reported his victory. Japanese manufacturers with plants in the United States also worry that American labor unions' clout may increase under the Democrats. Many Japanese managers of U.S. subsidiaries "have had a hard time because of their unions' anti-management attitudes," a Japanese business analyst in Washington told me. "It's natural that they think Republicans are easier to deal with."