First China, and now Russia. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his administration's apparent lack of experience is allowing neighboring nations to take territorial advantage over Japan to the alarm of experts.
As China tests the waters over the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and as Russia looks to strengthen its rule of the islands it holds off Hokkaido, it looks like Japan once again has no one else to turn to but the United States.
Since September 2009, when the Democratic Party of Japan took power, it has focused on exerting "political leadership" to hobble the role of bureaucrats in setting policy, but so far Kan's administration has failed to wield any diplomatic clout, said Takashi Kawakami, a professor of security issues at Takushoku University.
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