ABSTRACT
The political relationship between the United States and Japan was characterized by a greater degree of friction than has existed at any time since the end of World War II. Most of the potential political problems between the United States and Japan are derived from two broad issue areas: economics and security. Three aspects of Japanese-American economic ties are important: the crucial role of foreign trade in Japanese economic survival; the objective impact of Japanese foreign trade; and the peculiarly Japanese way of trading, which seems specifically designed to create political friction. Friction has arisen both from the relationship between the United States and Japan and, as a result of changes in the international relationship, from Japanese domestic politics. Elements of domestic Japanese politics are important to any understanding of the tension in present-day Japanese-American relations in two areas: first, Japanese decision-making style in general and the foreign-policy process in particular; second, the international behavior of the Japanese per se.
