The United States and Japan went from hostility during the war to close alliance

This week, Fumio Kishida will make the first state visit to the United States by a Japanese prime minister since 2015. Here is an overview of the relationship between Washington and Tokyo, which has evolved from hostility during World War II to a close alliance.

The United States brought Japan out of its isolation in the second half of the nineteenth century. Later, the two countries competed for supremacy in the Pacific and faced off militarily in December 1941 after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Japan surrendered in 1945 after being devastated by American bombing, including the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed 214,000 people.

The Americans occupied the archipelago until 1952 (Okinawa was not returned until 1972). Japan's pacifist constitution, written by the Americans in 1947, states that Tokyo renounces war "forever."

In 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. In the same year, Obama and Shinzo Abe, then prime minister of Japan, visited Pearl Harbor.

To ensure its defense in the postwar period, Japan relies heavily on the United States, which has military bases on its territory.

This situation was reinforced by a Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty between the two countries, which was ratified in 1960 despite strong popular protests in Japan at the time. The treaty is still in effect.

About 54,000 American troops are currently stationed in Japan, most of them in Okinawa, at the southern tip of the archipelago.

Japan's financial contribution to the American bases on its territory is large, exceeding one billion dollars annually.

Faced with increasing pressure from China, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan conducted a thorough review of its national security principles in late 2022 and decided to equip itself with its own "counterattack" capabilities.

Japan, which has a self-defense force, also plans to double its defense budget to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2027.

The U.S.-Japan alliance is increasingly taking on expanded forms in the Asia-Pacific region, such as the Quad (the informal security cooperation among the United States, Japan, Australia, and India).

Japan may also cooperate in the future with the OKOS defense alliance, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and is currently negotiating a bilateral military agreement with the Philippines.

In 2022, the United States and Japan were the top sources of foreign direct investment.

A large number of Japanese companies have been part of the industrial landscape in the United States since the 1980s, especially in the automotive industry (Toyota, Honda, and Nissan).

However, the United States has a large trade deficit with Japan (-$71.2 billion in 2023), which has been a contentious issue under President Donald Trump (2017-2021). 

The two countries are also working to strengthen their cooperation in sensitive technological areas such as civil nuclear energy, space and semiconductors.

But the economic partnership between the two countries has its red lines. US President Joe Biden, who was nominated for a second term in the November elections, opposes the takeover of US Steel by the Japanese company Nippon Steel.