Joe Biden must recognize the clear and present dangers facing Japan

Back to the future with Tokyo, Washington's most underappreciated ally

Joshua W. Walker

May 19, 2022 05:00 JST

A turret from an old tank set in the ground in front of a lighthouse on Kunashiri Island, one of the Russian-held Southern Kuril Islands known in Japan as the Northern Territories: The Cold War is still very much alive in Japan. © AP

Joshua W. Walker is president and CEO of the Japan Society.

When Joe Biden arrives for his first visit to Tokyo as a president on Sunday, he will find a country put on edge by the war in Ukraine that has already shattered so many of the Cold War geopolitical norms which have shaped Japan's post-World War II history.