When Japan's prime minister visited Washington this month, Japanese officials lobbied intensely to get him a one-on-one with Barack Obama. In the end, Yukio Hatoyama had to settle for just 10 minutes, and even that during a banquet when the US president was presumably more interested in the appetisers and wine. These things matter in Japan. One senior politician called the put-down – as it was inevitably viewed in Tokyo – “humiliating”. He even noted that the Japanese prime minister was shunted to the edge of a group photo, the diplomatic equivalent of banishment to Siberia.
本月，當日本首相訪問華盛頓時，日本政府官員竭力游說，希望為首相贏得與美國總統巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)面對面對話的機會。最后鳩山由紀夫(Yukio Hatoyama)只得到了10分鐘的機會，而且還是在一場宴會期間，當時美國總統更感興趣的可能是開胃菜和葡萄酒。日本人對這樣的事情十分在意。一位資深政治家稱這種怠慢（顯然日本官員將此看作是一種怠慢）是一種羞辱。他甚至指出，在合影時，日本首相被擠到了最邊上，這在外交上相當于被流放到了西伯利亞。