The absence was conspicuous. Last week, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney commanded the stage with his vision for rebuilding international economic cooperation, Japanese representation was perfunctory ¡ª a few corporate executives, a junior minister, no commanding presence.
This was no one-off. In late October, when South Korea hosted the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, the dramatic bilateral meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping overshadowed Tokyo¡¯s delegation, reducing Japan to a spectator as the world¡¯s two largest economies negotiated over the region¡¯s future.
And at the Group of Seven summit in Canada last June, Japan¡¯s then-prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, appeared peripheral at best ¡ª his timidness and limited English preventing him from inserting Japan into deliberations while European leaders grappled with Ukraine and Trump focused on bilateral arrangements.
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