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...1950s Japan, during the years after the country's devastating defeat in World War II, Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama believed his island nation should not become too subservient to the U.S. To make his point, he flew to Moscow to normalize relations with the Soviet Union. It was a bold stand to take at the opening of the Cold War - and one that ultimately failed. Despite Hatoyama's views, Japan locked itself firmly into the U.S. orbit, becoming America's key Asian ally...
...global security priorities. In January, Hatoyama ended the refueling missions in the Indian Ocean, just as Obama was ramping up operations in Afghanistan. Most irritating to Washington has been Hatoyama's effort to renegotiate an important agreement on the redeployment of American troops stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Hatoyama's stand has caused a rare chill to beset Japan-U.S. ties, leading some Japan watchers to fret over the health of the alliance. "This is probably the lowest point [for U.S.-Japan relations] since the early 1990s," when the two were engaged in bitter trade wars, says...
...security issues, says Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "They're working it out as they go." Nowhere has that been more apparent than in Hatoyama's handling of the status of American bases on Okinawa. That southern Japanese island, a famous World War II battleground, still hosts roughly 25,000 troops, almost all of them Marines, and the local Okinawans have long resented the heavy military presence. In 2006, the U.S. and Japan reached an agreement to move a Marine air base on Okinawa to a less populated part...
...That wasn't enough to satisfy Hatoyama. During the election campaign, he promised the Okinawans that the air base would be shifted off the island entirely, and since taking office he has effectively shelved the 2006 accord and reopened negotiations with the U.S. After months of waffling and breaking self-imposed deadlines, it's not clear exactly what Hatoyama will propose to Washington, but he told reporters in late March, "I personally should like to consider a path to relocate the air station outside Okinawa...
...section at the end that they’ve been trying to hide, from all of us. I call it TTOTS: The Tax On Tanning Salons. What Obama didn’t tell you is that the next time I take the ferry to Staten Island, hang a left on Father Capadano Boulevard, get a slice at Gino’s, and then get my weekly tan on in Caribbean Delights, Il Duce will be taking his 10 percent...