Prime Minister Taro Aso seems eager to meet the new president of the United States, Barack Obama, as the initial step toward accomplishing something big in the field of diplomacy, and in an effort to put the brakes on the downward spiral of his popularity at home.
If history is used as a yardstick, however, an early session with Obama may not necessarily augur well: Three of Aso's predecessors were forced to step down within months of visiting the White House to confer with its new occupant.
Aso has so far not scored any success in his diplomatic agenda since he took over the reins of government last fall. A solution to the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese is nowhere in sight; his bid to invite the forthcoming "financial summit" of the Group of 20 nations to Tokyo has failed; and his chosen foreign minister, Hirofumi Nakasone, son of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, has been criticized for doing nothing more than reading statements prepared by bureaucrats.