Democrats in the United States and residents in the town of Obama, Fukui Prefecture, may be getting carried away Wednesday by news of Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election.
But foreign policy experts and Japanese diplomats in Japan are staying composed, analyzing the change to determine whether the switch from a Republican government to a Democratic one will cause problems between Tokyo and Washington, although U.S. concerns over trade friction have already shifted to China and South Korea from Japan.
Japan was once a mighty trade rival for the U.S. before and during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose election in 1992 spread deep concerns among Japanese government and business leaders because of the Democrats' tradition of protecting domestic industry.