The issue for 2001 is whether Japan's leaders will take responsibility for their own national security. The stage is set for them to make this choice and the United States is ready to cooperate no matter what decision they make.
As we have seen, the accidental sinking of the Japanese fisheries training vessel, the Ehime Maru, by a U.S. submarine is forcing Tokyo to debate this issue more carefully. An equally important debate over how to deal with Japan on the security front is also shaping up within the Bush administration.
There was never any doubt that this debate would eventually come to the fore, it was just a question of when. What has forced it to the surface is the seriousness with which Bush administration officials take national security, or should we say national survival, issues.