In these troubled times everyone is looking round for decisive and wise leadership. In particular the world is looking to America, as still the biggest and richest nation by far, despite its current financial problems, to make a better contribution to world peace and stability under its new president than it seems to have done recently.

In fact, in the recent presidential campaign, this is just the question that Americans in all parts of the political spectrum have been asking each other: How can America best reassert its world leadership and influence and become loved and admired again as once it was?

In looking for an answer Americans should perhaps try taking a leaf out of the Japanese book. In Japan the spirit of mutual obligation prevails — perhaps not as universally as it once did, but still quite strongly. People are guided by a sense of obligation to each other. That is the lubricant by which business is done, relationships are handled and teams are built. The concept of going it alone is unthinkable.