Tokyo Retreat.

Usually when foreign policy experts talk about "rising" powers in Asia they mean China. Yet one of the most important recent developments in the region has been Japan's readiness to take new responsibilities for the maintenance of international security. And the centerpiece of this strategy has been the deployment of a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force flotilla in the Indian Ocean to refuel U.S.-led coalition vessels operating against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

This week, those ships will start steaming home, not because they have completed their mission, but because the legislation authorizing an extension of their deployment is being ...

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