Through Kanji Nishio’s essay published in Seiron, this chapter examines Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s diplomacy. It discusses his first meeting with President Donald Trump, his attention to allies neglected under the Obama administration, and his visits to countries around China, showing the significance of Abe’s efforts to protect Japan’s national interests.

June 1, 2020
The anxiety of the Japanese people, who had watched with bated breath wondering what would happen if the new president were the same type as Obama, who liked China and was cold toward Japan, was dispelled by this.
The essay by the critic Kanji Nishio, published in today’s issue of the monthly magazine Seiron under the title “Shinzo Abe and the Fate of the Nation,” is an essay that all Japanese people must read.
I first learned of his existence after August, six years ago.
In other words, when I was subscribing to the Asahi Shimbun, I did not know him at all.
It goes without saying from me that he is genuine.
His essay is, of course, a long essay of a kind that cannot be seen in a newspaper.
It is no exaggeration to call it an essay written as a decisive throw of the dice.
Those who consider themselves intellectuals must go to their nearest bookstore and buy it.
The cost is only 900 yen.
This article introduces one section in a very brief excerpt.
The preceding part is omitted.
The fact that, in Trump Tower in New York, he immediately hit it off with the man who had just been elected president, that mysterious figure who might do anything tomorrow, and that the man took a liking to him, formed the foundation of Abe diplomacy thereafter.
The anxiety of the Japanese people, who had watched with bated breath wondering what would happen if the new president were the same type as Obama, who liked China and was cold toward Japan, was dispelled by this.
It shows that history moved in one room of that tower.
The United States in the Obama era was cold toward allies such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Japan, and unnecessarily pushed pro-American countries such as Germany, South Korea, and the Philippines toward China.
It was only in the final years, as his term was approaching its end, that Obama became even somewhat skeptical of China’s imperialistic character.
Abe diplomacy patiently traveled around the world as though surrounding China.
He visited Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, India, the Middle East, Australia, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries.
It looked almost like a journey to gather up the dissatisfaction of allies betrayed by the United States.
At the same time, it was also a journey that, so to speak, filled the diplomatic void that the United States had been unable to fill for some time, and it was a series of solitary efforts that also served Japan’s national interests in the next era.
I hear that those in the United States who understand this now understand it and praise him.
At the time, I remember worrying about his physical strength, thinking, Mr. Abe is really working hard.
Among his eight years of political action, I believe this deserves to be evaluated as a splendid achievement that made use of his personal quality of being liked by people he met for the first time.
The rest is omitted.