3 No’s Needed for US-Japan Alliance

No sudden actions. No excessive politicization. No disregarding.

Fujisaki, Japan’s ambassador to U.S, speaks out on U.S.-Japan relations

Because of the issues surrounding the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (MCAS Futenma) and the recent Toyota hearing, it is said that U.S-Japan relations are strained. In light of the recent issues, Japan’s ambassador to the U.S, Ichiro Fujisaki, came up with three essential “No’s” for maintaining the alliance.

On February 12th, Fujisaki sent an article titled ‘What is Next for the Japanese-U.S. Alliance? ’ to the technical journal on diplomacy, Foreign Affairs. In the article, he started off with “. . . there must be no surprises” and proposed that both countries should communicate their intentions and purposes effectively.

U.S. State of Secretary, Hilary Clinton, called for a meeting with Fujisaki to protest about the relocation of MCAS Futenma without prior notice on 22th December last year.

Secondly, Fujisaki added that “. . . there must be no overcomplication and no overpoliticization” and recommended that both countries act with prudence.

Next, he emphasized the need to maintain a strong and steady relationship by not “taking each other for granted.” This can be seen as an indirect request to the U.S. to not disregard Japan. In addition, he mentioned that Japan has pledged last November to contribute $5 billion to the reconstruction of Afghanistan over a period of 5 years.

On the MCAS Futenma issue, Fujisaki hopes that the American soldiers will not inconvenience the civilians living nearby.

Fujisaki said: “In a security environment with a great deal of uncertainty and unpredictability, it is a widely shared sentiment that the Asia-Pacific region continues to need the presence of U.S. forces.” But at the same time, he rebutted the claim by American political scientists that the army base’s presence is like “oxygen.” According to Fujisaki, the army base causes noise pollution and other environmental issues while it is possible for accidents to occur. In addition, civilians in nearby residential areas are inconvenienced. Fujisaki stressed that while the army base is located in densely populated regions, both countries need to keep these issues in mind and work to resolve them.

Fujisaki used the Japanese idiom “After the rain, the ground becomes more solid” to express his wish that the U.S.-Japan alliance will become stronger in the future.