With a refreshing bit of journalistic acuity, the USA Today reporter James Cox has reminded me how bizarre the U.S. attitude toward Japan has become. Under the headline, "U.S. bullies Japan like no other nation," Cox noted the astonishing extent of U.S. high-handed meddlesomeness with Japan, suggesting that it is reminiscent of the time U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur ruled the country.
What prompted Cox's historical comparison was apparently the recent U.S.-Japan talks on Japan's phone rates. Various reports said that many telecommunications people, both American and Japanese, regarded the U.S. government's stance as questionable. But that was a matter of no concern to Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Richard Fisher who flew to Tokyo to pound the table. After his demands were rejected, he said he'd take the case to the World Trade Organization.
I must say Cox made an odd journalistic mistake in turning to Ed Lincoln for a concurrent opinion. A former special adviser to the U.S. ambassador to Japan and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Lincoln is famous for displaying his displeasure with the Japanese for not heeding his advice. After all, it was none other than Lincoln who told the readers of Foreign Affairs last year not to return phone calls from Japanese.