Japan and Australia make a rather odd couple in Asia. Yet their officials spend a lot of time talking to each other. Thursday will see yet another talkfest in Tokyo -- this time to discuss their "creative partnership." One reason for the talkativeness is that neither nation quite has the Asian credentials it claims. So they have little choice but to talk to each other.
Close economic ties are another obvious reason for getting together. As well, both, uninvitedly, have given themselves the joint role of guaranteeing Asian security; they pretend to be friendly to China while discussing covertly its alleged threat. And both say they want to lead the fight against something called global terror. All that requires a lot of talking.
Both also have more in common culturally than they realize. Australia's attractive mateship ethic has a rough equivalent in Japan's group ethic. The flip side, unfortunately, is a less than attractive anti-intellectualism, as seen in the mutual inability to formulate consistent foreign and economic policies.