Japan does feel that China has been in the limelight and that Japan’s right to a more substantial voice on the world stage has been leapfrogged by China. Japan asked to be on the U.N. Security Council, for example. (So what are the Japanese looking for from an Obama presidency?) The Japanese will be looking for some acknowledgment that Japan had a similar phase to the U.S. in the current economic crisis and they could cooperate to help kickstart a revival in the economy. (Is there anything in particular that has caused these relations to sour?) Namely that Wall Street has not been a good lesson for Japanese economics. (How much right now are the Japanese feeling the spinoff effects?) Very profoundly, America is still Japan’s biggest customer.
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