They're both avid golfers. They both want their countries to be great powers. They are both determined not to appease North Korea and won't back down from putting military confrontation on the table as one of the options for dealing with Pyongyang.
There is much that both Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump have in common, and Abe made a point of highlighting the personal connection the two men have during their two-day summit meeting in Tokyo. But while much has been made of the blooming bromance, Trump has made clear that current trade relations between Washington and Tokyo will not be acceptable. What's more, a key part of the White House strategy to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Japan will be to push Tokyo to buy more U.S. military equipment.
Ironically, though, U.S. pressure on Japan to buy more weapons as a means to reduce the bilateral trade deficit may actually be exactly what Abe wants to hear as he looks to beef up Japan's defense capabilities in spite of a begrudging public. The fact that Trump has been frustrated with the trade imbalance between Japan and the United States is all too familiar for Tokyo's leadership, which has made a point of mollifying and also diverting the president's attention from the issue.