Japan¡¯s prime minister has returned from what looks at first blush to have been a very successful personal mission to reinforce to the American audience that ¡°Japan is back,¡± and to remind Americans that Japan stands today, 70 years after the end of World War II, as one of America¡¯s closest allies.
As the daughter of a 20-year-old navy ensign who served aboard the USS Missouri eight months after Japan¡¯s formal signed surrender aboard the battleship, the close relations between the United States and Japan today are nothing short of a marvel.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s congressional speech was designed to humanize a man whose political rhetoric often reflects a militaristic and masculine view of Japan¡¯s past. True to form, he began his speech referencing his maternal grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who served as Japan¡¯s 56th and 57th prime minister. He quoted from Kishi¡¯s 1957 speech to the U.S. House of Representatives: ¡°It is because of our strong belief in democratic principles and ideals that Japan associates herself with the free nations of the world.¡±
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