Is friendship between nations possible? Can Japan and the United States be friends as the U.S. is with Canada and Britain, or are they forever destined to have a relationship that turns on a calculation of mutual advantage?
To merely raise these questions is to invite charges of being Pollyannaish. Yet these are important questions, for nothing less than the peace, independence and security of the Pacific world may turn on a bond between Japan and the U.S. as strong and unshakable as that which exists between the U.S. and its two English-speaking allies.
These questions take on a particular cogency in light of President Bill Clinton's visit to China last summer. Bowing to the wishes of Chinese President Jiang Zemin, he bypassed Japan on his way home, leading some Asia watchers to speculate whether America was switching allegiances in the Pacific.