“Refugees” from the Obama Administration

“I think Japan’s Democratic Party administration should turn towards the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in a hurried manner, much like those commuting to work do when boarding a train during rush hour.”

Carolyn Leddy, who was the director of the National Security Council of Japan (NSC) during the Bush administration, and in October of last year stayed in Japan through a fellowship program sponsored by Hitachi, Ltd., said this recently to a research committee before returning to the U.S.

Likewise, in the American capital of Washington, D.C., in spite of another train coming shortly, no matter what the commuters do, they are surprised by the thought of riding the next train. In contrast to a commuter who does not want to miss a train, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama did things like suspend oil refueling, which used the Maritime Self Defense Forces in the Indian Ocean, and seemed to be lacking the attitude of exerting effort in cooperation with other countries or striving to contribute internationally, much like Ms. Leddy indicated.

Ms. Leddy, who earned her Masters degree from Columbia University in 2000 and worked as a State Department specialist on nuclear, biological and chemical weapon non-proliferation, also was concerned by the nuclear crisis in North Korea. After her resignation, the U.S. government adopted an attitude of seeking harmony with Kim Jong Il’s administration, which Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state at the time, strongly criticized. While still working in Washington, Hill also gave an interview in which he warned that removing the designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism was a big victory for North Korea.

Leddy, who is not a specialist on Japan, decided to live in Tokyo because of the emergence of Obama’s Democratic Party administration, in addition to having an interest in the American nuclear umbrella. There has been a regime change in Japan as well, and a Democratic Party administration has emerged. The concerns have shifted to the problems of the relocation of the American forces at Futenma airfield (Okinawa prefecture, Kinowan city) and the shaken Japan-America relations.

Ms. Leddy recollects the exact anxiety felt during the preceding Hatoyama administration, as in Naoto Kan’s administration. Particularly about the Democratic Party’s crushing defeat in the House of Councilors election, she said, “because the politically weakened Prime Minister Kan will not put effort into diplomacy or the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, pessimism is rising.” In this magazine, we compare the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the U.S. and Japan reform to the continuing “Alliance Weakening” plan, but this concern is shared.

With the exception of matters related to the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, Ms. Leddy says she fully enjoys daily life in Japan, watching sports such as soccer and taking field trips to Kyoto and Nara. She also recollects drinking sake in Japanese-style taverns. After she returned to her country, she said, “my desire to report on U.S.-Japan alliance relations has grown strong.”

Former United States Deputy Secretary of State Armitage and Michael Green, the senior director for Asian Affairs at the NSC, are names that come to mind as being “pro-Japanese,” but I also want to hope for a new type of person who is like Ms. Leddy.