In a society used to quiet consensus-building, Tokyo has made bold changes to its defense policy. “Did I contribute to that?” Mr. Emanuel asked. “Uh, yeah.”The New York Times reports that in a society accustomed to quiet consensus-building, Tokyo has recently made bold changes to its defense policy. During an interview, former congressman, chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, asked, “Did I contribute to that?” He then answered his own question, saying, “Uh, yeah.” Known for his impatience, Emanuel believes that patience is a waste of time and wants to get things done quickly.
As the United States ambassador to Japan, Emanuel was initially seen as an unconventional choice due to his brash and profane nature. However, he suggests that he may have been just what Japan needed. “I think on a lot of things, Japan was ready to go,” he said, referring to recent changes in the country’s defense policy. In the past three years, Japan has increased its military spending, acquired Tomahawk missiles from the United States, and agreed to manufacture American-designed Patriot missiles for the US government, in a reversal of postwar restrictions on weapons exports.
While acknowledging that the groundwork for these changes was laid before he arrived, Emanuel believes that his presence may have played a role in their acceleration. “While I was here, they did more, went faster and farther and deeper than I think they themselves originally thought,” he said during the interview. However, former prime minister Fumio Kishida, who left office in early October, believes that the decisions were made by the Japanese government, stating, “Ambassador Emanuel shared various ideas with me and offered advice, but it was the Japanese government that made the decisions.”
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