Kishida goes all-in on partnership with the US

It is telling that one of the most popular photos from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington was a picture of him and Joe Biden relaxing together in “the Beast,” the president’s personal limousine, as they traveled from the White House to dinner.

It was a sign that Kishida had reached the inner-most circle of US power, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the leader of the free world in a truly intimate setting.

Summits with the US president are invariably big deals for Japan’s prime minister. The partnership with the United States – a notion that goes well beyond a mere “alliance” – is the foundation of Japanese national security and critical to its national interests most broadly defined. Historically, successfully managing relations with Washington has been a prerequisite for any Japanese political leader.

By every metric, last week’s summit was a success. Kishida got the star-studded state dinner, and he gave an address to a joint session of Congress. Biden declared that his support for the defense of Japan was “ironclad.” The two leaders delivered a bold, forward-leaning declaration of “global partnership” and produced an 18-page, 70-item list of deliverables to turn that vision into reality. Headlines across media trumpeted “a new era” and “a turning point.”

Kishida’s message of solidarity and support – “Japan is already standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States. You are not alone. We are with you”—was intended to disarm critics who charge that Japan is a free rider, letting the US incur the real costs of national defense.

Notably, those comments were in his speech to Congress, at which he was speaking to both parties. Kishida has highlighted the publication of new defense documents in 2022