S hinzo Abe enjoyed a combined six years in office before he had to deal with a visit by President Donald Trump to Tokyo. Newly installed prime minister Sanae Takaichi had just over six days.

That’s one reason why Takaichi reached for her mentor’s playbook for dealing with the US president — one that calls for flattery, deference and gold-plated gifts. And it seems to have worked.

Whereas Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, played for a draw at his White House meeting in February, this encounter was redolent of Abe’s best moments. The late leader, assassinated in 2022, crafted a method of dealing with Trump in his first term that many executives and world leaders have adopted on his return to office. Show Full Article

Takaichi’s international experience is relatively shallow; she’s

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