In many accounts, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit in February to the United States was a success. At least he made no blunders. More than that, he succeeded in conveying the most important message that he wanted to communicate to Washington — that "Japan is back."

The primary reason behind Abe's success this time was his attempt to deliberately keep expectations on the U.S. side low. The policy of the Abe Cabinet to keep a low profile until the Upper House election in the coming summer has been well understood by the U.S. side and no criticism of the policy was heard.

Second, because the timing of Abe's visit coincided with the start of the Obama administration's second term, the State Department chose to maintain former Secretary Hillary Clinton's policy line unaltered, including that involving the Senkaku Islands issue.