Abe blows Japan's trumpet, cautiously

摘要

Since becoming prime minister last September, Shinzo Abe has done plenty of travelling. Straight off, he made a fence-mending trip to China and South Korea, with whom Japan's relations had deteriorated under his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi. In January he visited Europe, chiefly to emphasise that Japan was a staunch democratic partner on NATO'S eastern flank. This week, shortly after visiting Washington for talks with George Bush, he toured the Middle East, the fount of more than three-quarters of Japan's oil.