Five-year-old tensions between the U.S. and North Korea are intensifying, and Japan is growing increasingly nervous about the prospects of another missile launch from its reclusive neighbor.
It was against this backdrop that former U.S. Defense chief William Perry arrived in Tokyo on Thursday.
His arrival coincided with a U.S.-North Korea game of chicken being played out this week in New York and Washington, where the two sides are discussing a U.S. demand for access to suspected underground nuclear sites in North Korea. The dialogue appears to be deadlocked with Pyongyang insisting that the U.S. pay $300 million if any search comes up empty.