"We are not in a position to express the view of the Japanese government." — Shinzo Abe, the head of the Japanese government, speaking on Jan. 30 about U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order suspending resettlement of refugees and sharply restricting immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations
It came as little surprise to hear that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to remain silent on Trump's highly controversial immigration ban. Yes, Japan has never been as welcoming as most other countries when it comes to accepting immigrants or refugees, but Abe's current silence has far more to do with business — and not poking the sleeping giant that Trump appears to be. Because of this, Abe is tiptoeing his way around the sharp rhetoric coming from the new U.S. administration.
Fortunately for Abe, however, Trump is someone he can wrap his head around. The prime minister is used to dealing with aggressive, protectionist businessmen far more than globally minded Nobel Peace Prize-winning professors, as Barack Obama was.