British and Japanese politicians need to recognize that the power and influence of their countries are no longer what they were and that their governments must "cut their cloth" accordingly.
Unfortunately there are politicians in both our countries who suffer from illusions of grandeur and an inability to recognize the way in which power has ebbed from their countries.
Before the Chinese prime minister made his recent visit to Britain he told a press conference that, in the past, China had ranked European countries in the order Britain, France and Germany. Today, he said, China ranked the three countries in a different order — Germany, France and Britain. This was hardly tactful but it should have induced some healthy self-reflection in Britain.