The U.S.-Japan Alliance: A Safe Harbor

On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, alongside U.S. President Barack Obama, made a landmark visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His appearance marked the first by a Japanese Prime Minister at Pearl Harbor while accompanied by a U.S. president. Abe also became the first sitting Prime Minister to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, where he and President Obama laid wreaths and paid tribute to the U.S. servicemen who lost their lives in the Japanese bombing of the naval base in 1941. This visit mirrors President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, Japan with Abe in May – the first by a sitting U.S. President.

The two leaders made brief remarks at the conclusion of their visit. “I offer my sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls who lost their lives here,” PM Abe said, and called the U.S. – Japan alliance, an “alliance of hope.” President Obama declared of U.S.- Japan relations, “Our alliance has never been stronger”, and that he hopes “together, we send a message to the world that there is more to be won in peace than in war.”