The Democratic Party of Japan and the Future of the U.S.-Japan Alliance

Promises from the DPJ government that emerged after the 2009 election threw the U.S.-Japan alliance into turmoil. Following nine months of bruising criticism, Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio resigned, and the DPJ began shifting its foreign and economic policies back toward the general strategic trajectory it inherited. The unfinished business of political realignment is the most important variable for Japan's strategic future. Japanese voters wanted—and received—a more competitive and accountable political system. Will this new political chapter produce the leadership necessary to revitalize Japanese foreign and economic policies, or will it yield more twisted Diets and policy drift?