Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru is reportedly attempting to arrange a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump after the G20 summit in Brazil, which is scheduled for November 18 and 19.
Ishiba told reporters he spoke with Trump for about five minutes on Thursday morning, to offer his congratulations and plan a meeting soon.
“This was my first one-on-one conversation with him, but it felt friendly. I had the impression that we could speak openly and candidly,” Ishiba said.
Ishiba did not divulge the details of his conversation with Trump, but he said he was eager to discuss strategic, financial, and logistical issues with the American president-elect.
The Japanese prime minister has booked a trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru from November 10-16, followed by the G20 event in Rio de Janeiro on November 18 and 19.
Four sources with knowledge of Ishiba’s agenda told Reuters on Thursday that the Japanese prime minister hopes to meet with Trump during a stopover in the United States “around” the time of the G20 meeting.
Ishiba’s predecessor Abe Shinzo arranged a similar meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in New York the week after the 2016 election. Abe and Trump became close personal friends, bonding over golf, sumo wrestling, and gigantic hamburgers.
Trump was heartbroken when Abe was assassinated in July 2022, proclaiming his friend’s death to be “really bad news for the world.”
“Few people know what a great man and leader Shinzo Abe was, but history will teach them and be kind. He was a unifier like no other, but above all, he was a man who loved and cherished his magnificent country, Japan. Shinzo Abe will be greatly missed. There will never be another like him,” Trump said.
Abe resigned his office in September 2020 due to health problems, having long suffered from ulcerative colitis. He was succeeded as prime minister by Kishida Fumio, who was nearly killed by a home-made pipe bomb nine months after Abe’s assassination. Kishida stepped down in September 2024 due to low approval ratings, to be replaced by Ishiba.
Trump weathered two confirmed assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign, suffering a bullet wound to his ear when a gunman tried to kill him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
The Japan Times reported on Thursday that Japanese officials are being quite open about their desire to develop a personal relationship with Trump that could give Japan the same kind of inside track that Abe’s friendship with Trump afforded.
“I am concerned that the emphasis on ‘America First’ carries a high possibility of leading to a retreat from international commitments,” worried Noda Yoshihiko, head of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP).
Noda said on Thursday that he hoped a good personal relationship between Trump and Japanese leadership could help Japan to pursue its strategic interests with the incoming White House. He added that he found outgoing President Joe Biden’s commitment to Pacific issues disappointing.
“I believe that, especially given the tense security environment in Asia, Japan must promote and take a stronger lead in ensuring that Trump remains committed to this region,” Noda said.
One of Ishiba’s top agenda items pertaining to the United States is revising the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that governs the American military presence in Japan. He has been rather vague about the details in conversations with Japanese media, but he generally wants to give Japan more authority in defense matters and more input on strategy. Some of these changes would ostensibly make the continued American presence more palatable to residents of Okinawa, where most U.S. forces are based.
The SOFA has not been significantly revised since it was written in 1960, although some minor operational changes and supplemental clauses have been added. Revisions to the SOFA would require the approval of the U.S. Congress, so Ishiba is unlikely to make progress unless he can get President Trump on board.
Ishiba has also been pushing for the creation of an “Asian NATO,” a multilateral strategic partnership of Asian democracies on par with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Asian NATO would include the United States along with regional allies like Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
None of those powers has been terribly enthusiastic about the idea, which Ishiba has been advocating since long before he became prime minister. He jovially describes himself as a “defense otaku,” which means “defense nerd.”
Some leaders feel it would be redundant, as the common defense interests of the “Asian NATO” countries are already clear and they coordinate well with the United States.
Others worry the creation of such an organization would antagonize China, which frequently complains the United States is trying to build an Asian NATO to harass and contain it. Beijing would probably view it as an intolerable provocation if Asian NATO included Taiwan, while Ishiba cites Taiwan as the very reason such an organization is needed because it could offer the fearsome deterrent of an ironclad commitment to mutual self-defense.
Last month, Ishiba called for Japan to establish a military presence on Guam, a move that would require changes to the SOFA. The residents of Guam were surprised and displeased by the suggestion, especially members of the indigenous Chamorro people, who have bad memories of Imperial Japanese occupation during World War II. The Chamorro were further incensed by the notion they might not be consulted about changes to the SOFA, since Guam remains a U.S. territorial possession.
Ishiba would certainly have a lot to discuss with Trump if he can arrange his meeting in November. Ishiba told Japan’s BS Fuji TV on Thursday that his top priority is to develop a personal relationship with the once and future American president.
“It’s important for the future to build human relations quickly. It’s a showcase of Japanese diplomacy. Diplomacy, after-all, is about human relations. It’s vital to make contact with the other party as soon as possible and to make a good impression,” he said.