HONG KONG — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama chose to use his 10 minutes with President Obama at a working dinner during the recent nuclear summit trying in vain to bend the president's ear on the increasingly vexing question of the relocation of U.S. military base facilities in Japan. He did this rather than use the time to bring Japan's moral advantage to bear on nuclear security, which was supposedly why he was in Washington. Several months into office and with plummeting popularity, it is time for Hatoyama to question his own political priorities.

While the prime minister was away, Japan's defense forces got their own view of a side issue of the argument about U.S. bases — a display of strength by 10 Chinese warships passing between Okinawa and Miyakojima. China's exercise was perfectly legal since the vessels were in international waters, but it was a clear message about Beijing's increasing military muscle.

Hatoyama came to power with the declared but undefined aim of reasserting Japan's authority in the relationship with the United States, in which Tokyo has been a very junior partner, protected by the American nuclear umbrella but paying for it by way of $2 billion a year and the presence of 47,000 U.S. troops — plus the occasional but considerable hazards of military machines that crash and soldiers who misbehave.