Japan Institute for National Fundamentals
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Speaking out

Takashi Arimoto

【#1232】Take Advantage of Trump for Japan’s self-reliance

Takashi Arimoto ／ 2025.03.12 (Wed)


March 10, 2025

　
The world is being swayed by U.S. President Donald Trump. To determine how to deal with Trump in preparation for a Japan-U.S. summit meeting on February 7, Japanese government officials reread the entire record of the 51 meetings (including telephone talks) between Trump and the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who developed a close relationship.

“Abe was well aware of how Trump did not like to be lectured face-to-face,” said a Japanese government official. “There were tariff and other issues on which Abe had to explain Japan’s position, but he avoided such topics as much as possible in one-on-one meetings with Trump and passed them to plenary sessions.”

“I should have informed [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky of this, as he clashed with Trump in front of TV cameras,” he added.

Opportunity to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance

Honeymoon relations between Abe and Trump are detailed in a book titled “Son of Destiny: Shinzo Abe Administration Chronicle” (Bungeishunju). “Abe was exquisite in maintaining a sense of distance from Trump,” a former senior White House official who served in the first Trump administration told the book’s author Yoichi Funabashi, a former chief editor for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. “While saying flattering things frequently, Abe refrained from cringing or kowtowing. Trump had a lot of respect for Abe,” the former official said.

Trump, who trusted Abe, conveyed the contents of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a Japan-U.S. summit meeting on November 30, 2018. Trump said he had advised Xi to “watch out for Japan, refrain from offending Japan, keep from waking up the sleeping lion, and remember the war.” Funabashi heard this from Abe in an interview before the former prime minister was assassinated in 2022.

In late March, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will visit Iwo Jima Island to attend a Japan-U.S. joint memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the fierce Japan-U.S. battle of Iwo Jima in the final days of World War II. It will be the first time that a U.S. defense secretary and a Japanese defense minister jointly attend a memorial ceremony on Iwo Jima, where 21,900 Japanese and 6,821 U.S. servicemen died. The remains of nearly 11,000 still lie there. The ceremony will be an opportunity to demonstrate the unity of the Japan-U.S. alliance as well as reconciliation.

Learn from Abe’s dealing knowhow

No matter how close they were, Abe was concerned that Trump had brought up the past war with Xi and made statements as if the United States were an outsider. Rather than being passive, however, Abe took advantage of Trump who said Japan should defend itself, and endeavored to enhance Japan’s defense capabilities. Even so, he recognized that there still remain issues to be addressed, such as a constitutional amendment. We must carry on Abe’s legacy and strive to increase Japan’s self-reliance, while enhancing the significance and value of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Takashi Arimoto is a Planning Committee member at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a columnist at the Sankei Shimbun newspaper.