Japanese Heartened To Top Her Itinerary

TOKYO, Feb. 16 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived here on the first stop of her Asian tour Monday, declaring that she wanted "to create networks of partners in order to deal with the problems that no nation, even ours, can deal with alone," such as climate change and the global economic crisis.

Clinton, at an elaborate arrival ceremony, lauded the U.S.-Japanese partnership, calling it "a cornerstone of our efforts around the world." She addressed a group of dignitaries that included two female Japanese astronauts who participated in the U.S. space shuttle program and Japanese Special Olympics athletes who recently completed a competition in Idaho.

Clinton is the first secretary of state in nearly 50 years to start his or her tenure with a trip to Asia, a contrast to the European and Middle Eastern tours that usually take precedence. On arrival here, she emphasized that she had selected Asia for her first overseas trip as chief U.S. diplomat to underscore the importance she places on U.S. transpacific relationships.

But for Japan, even greater importance is attached to the symbolism of Tokyo meriting the first stop of her swing through Asia. Her arrival breaks a dispiriting run of bad news for the Japanese government. The export-dependent economy is sinking fast and the prime minister's popularity even faster.

The visit also helps sooth a national neurosis called "Japan passing." The term came to haunt Japan after President Bill Clinton made a nine-day visit to China in 1998, and never dropped by Japan to say hello.

That non-visit by the secretary of state's husband helped spark what has become a chronic Japanese worry: that the focus of U.S. policy in East Asia has permanently shifted to China, when it is not focused on the question of persuading North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

"The fact that Secretary Clinton is making her first foreign trip to Japan is in itself an important and welcome message," said Takeshi Akamatsu, a spokesman at the Foreign Ministry. "We still have the memories of Bill Clinton flying over us."

As if to emphasize her interest in Japan, Clinton will mix high diplomacy -- including dinner with Prime Minister Taro Aso -- with cultural and symbolic events, such as tea with the empress and a visit to a shrine. She also will meet with the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, a highly emotional subject in Japan, and hold a town hall meeting at Tokyo University.

"I think it's important that we get out of the ministerial buildings and listen to the people in the countries where I'll be visiting," Clinton told reporters traveling with her.

This Clinton visit, however, may still end up worrying the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has more or less run Japan as a one-party state since World War II. Under Aso, the ruling party is in desperate trouble.

Aso's approval ratings, after less than half a year in power, have sunk below 10 percent. And the economy is sliding into an "unimaginable" recession, the chief economist at Japan's central bank said last week, citing plunging numbers for industrial output and surging bankruptcies.

Clinton's schedule suggests that the Obama administration might be hedging its bets on Aso. She is scheduled to meet Tuesday with opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Democratic Party of Japan; secretaries of state often meet with opposition leaders but have rarely done so in Japan.

Opinion polls suggest that Ozawa's party could knock Aso and his party out of power in an election that has to be called by September.

As for the substance of Clinton's talks with the Japanese government, she will sign an agreement Tuesday that will move 8,000 U.S. troops out of Japan to Guam, a transfer Japan is largely paying for. Other topics include the stalled negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program and climate change.

As a champion of the Kyoto treaty to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, Japan was quietly frustrated with the Bush administration's opposition to the treaty and to mandatory limits on emissions. Officials here say they expect to find common ground with the Obama administration.

With the collapse of Japanese car and electronic exports in recent months, this country is also looking for a new export stream to the United States, and the government believes it could be green technology. Since the oil shock of 1973-1974, experts say, no industrialized country has been more rigorous or effective than Japan in perfecting machinery and management systems to squeeze more economic growth out of less imported energy.

Relative to its economy, Japan consumes only a third as much oil as it did 35 years ago. "This is a possible way out of our economic hole," a Foreign Ministry official said.

By Glenn Kessler and Blaine Harden, The Washington Post, February 17, 2009