Japan's Leader to push for a more Muscular Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an interview 
with The Wall Street Journal ahead of his visit to 
the U.S. Photo: Ko Sasaki for WSJ

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Washington, he must sell Americans on his vision of a newly vibrant Japan while quelling doubts about his views on World War II

When Shinzo Abe goes to Washington for a pomp-filled visit this week, the Japanese leader faces a delicate balancing act: selling Americans on his vision of the future—a newly vibrant, muscular, more equal Japanese partner—while trying to quell doubts stoked by his views of the past.

A core message: “One plus one will finally become two,” Mr. Abe said during a two-part interview with The Wall Street Journal last week, describing the significance of the modernized military alliance he plans to unveil with President Barack Obama. “The alliance will become even more capable” in policing Asia, he said, once Japan sheds some of its postwar pacifist restrictions.

With a pugnacious China challenging the U.S. and staking territorial claims across the region, American officials are glad for Tokyo’s help. And they are glad that Japan has one of its most powerful leaders in generations.

His Abenomics economic-revival plan has helped the Nikkei Stock Average more than double to a 15-year high and brought record profits for companies. On defense, he is building Japan’s own version of the Marines, allowing weapons exports, expanding security ties with nations across the Pacific and lifting defense spending, albeit modestly, after a decade of cuts.

“Shinzo—Thank you for your strong leadership…,” was how Mr. Obama signed one photo of the two leaders together, a picture Mr. Abe keeps framed on a bookshelf in one office.

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Yet from the U.S. perspective, there is one irritant nagging at the relationship. That is Mr. Abe’s ambivalent embrace of apologies for World War II-era aggression. Over 2½ years in power, he and supporters have repeatedly gotten tangled in historical controversies—such as by demanding that a U.S. textbook publisher tone down descriptions of wartime brutalities.

The issue ebbs from time to time, sometimes after private U.S. admonitions, but constantly re-emerges to stoke tension in the region and mistrust in Washington.

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U.S., Japan Announce New Security Agreement

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