US President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan, following his stop at the Asean summit in Malaysia, was more than a diplomatic engagement. It was political theatre with carefully layered intent. For Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the first woman in that office, it was both an initiation and a test: how to handle an unpredictable ally whose goodwill often hinges on economic concessions. For Mr Trump, the pageantry and praise masked a familiar mission, to reassert American leverage in Asia through deals, not doctrines. The optics were flawless.

Mr Trump was received at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace with military honours, golden halls, and speeches of mutual admiration. A new “golden age” of US-Japan relations was proclaimed, sealed by agreements on rare earth minerals and defence cooperation. Yet behind the ceremonial glow, the visit reflected the transactional heart of Mr Trump’s foreign policy ~ alliances reframed as bargaining platforms where loyalty is........

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