of Hormuz went largely unanswered. Takaichi told parliament hours before her departure that she would "do everything to maximise (Japan's) national interest". The three-day visit to Washington was a chance to talk trade and deepen the US-Japan alliance ahead of Trump's diplomatic trip to China - which has now been postponed because of the war. But now it is the topic of the war that will likely overshadow the meeting, which is shaping up to be a test of Takaichi's friendship with Trump.

The trip was scheduled back in October, a week after Takaichi took office, when Tokyo rolled out the red carpet for Trump and the two leaders heaped compliments on each other, heralding a new "golden age" in bilateral ties. As of a few weeks ago, the upcoming meeting looked set to be a success, with Takaichi "fresh off a dominant election victory and with a new round of investment projects in the US", Emma Chanlett-Avery, director for political and security affairs at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told the BBC. But while Takaichi "had intended to build on the warmth of her first meeting with Trump and press upon him Japan's concerns about Chinese aggression ahead of Trump's (then scheduled) meeting with Xi", recent events have complicated things, said Chanlett-Avery. Earlier this week, in a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump posted a request calling for some countries to help secure the vital strait. He had pointed to Japan's and other Asian economies' dependence on fuel from the Middle East as reason for them to get involved. "We get less than 1% of our oil from the (Strait of Hormuz) and some countries get much more... We want them to come and help us," he said. But after receiving a lukewarm response, Trump retracted his request, saying in a post that the US did "NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!" (BBC)