LOS ANGELES — Japan is of gigantic importance to the United States and to the world. This nation — of 127 million people squeezed into one relatively small island — developed into the second-largest economy in the world.

Its engineering skill became legendary. Its national literacy level is exemplary. It's a very serious place, with astonishing achievements in the arts, in design and, of course, in electronics. (Their automobiles aren't bad, either.)

And it holds in its hands more U.S. government bonds and other critical official U.S. investments than any country in the world, including China.