Trump and the future of the US–Japan alliance (Hitoshi Tanaka, East Asia Forum)

Donald Trump has defied all expectations about the US presidential election by emerging as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. For Japan, his extreme rhetoric brings to the fore a fundamental question as to the future of the US alliance system and its global leadership: will US alliance relationships be weakened as part of the retreat to isolationism espoused by Trump? Or will those alliances be reconfigured to reflect the shifting geopolitical landscape?

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/07/13/trump-and-the-future-of-the-us-japan-alliance/

Six Challenges for US–Japan Cooperation in Asia (Hitoshi Tanaka, JCIE, East Asia Forum)

In 2016, the regional order in East Asia will continue to be characterised by a sense of instability. A key question as 2016 progresses will be: how best to focus US–Japan cooperation to address both the challenges and opportunities that accompany the rise of China? There are six thorny issues that carry the potential to undermine US–Japan cooperation. Close, careful US–Japan consultation and cooperation is required to ensure that these issues do not create a wedge in the alliance.

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/02/15/six-challenges-for-us-japan-cooperation-in-asia/