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The meeting between U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday was an occasion to affirm the strength of the six-decade-old alliance between the two nations at a time of rising geopolitical tensions in East Asia. The message of bilateral friendship, however, was temporarily lost among some of the reporters who were there to cover the event.

China seemed to take the air out of the Geneva Accord on Iran with its simultaneous announcement last week that it is creating an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. The ADIZ will be implemented by the Chinese Ministry of Defence and obliges all aircraft flying in the zone to accommodate a number of rules including: the identification of flight plans, the presence of any transponders and two-way radio communication with Chinese authorities.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday he would discuss China's air defence identification zone with US Vice-President Joe Biden in Tokyo to co-ordinate their stance after apparently contradictory responses. China raised regional tensions with its declaration last weekend of the zone, which covers islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a dispute between Beijing and Tokyo. Aircraft traversing the area are required to submit their flight plans.

The main streets of Shin-Okubo — Tokyo’s Koreatown — are lined with smoky barbecue restaurants and overlit cosmetics emporiums. Staircases lead down to basement music venues and up to hidden drinking holes. Japanese once thronged the neighborhood, which is home to many ethnic Koreans and known for its fiery food and late nights. But in recent months, the crowds have thinned, replaced by anti-Korean protesters who have turned Shin-Okubo into a rough barometer of deteriorating Japan-Korea relations.

Several governments joined Japan Tuesday in criticizing China’s latest bid to carve out a zone of control in the East China Sea, including Australia summoning Beijing’s ambassador to voice opposition over the move.

Caroline Kennedy took the post of U.S. Ambassador to Japan today, half a century after her father John’s dream of becoming the first sitting president to visit the country was cut short. Referring to John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy said on her arrival in Tokyo she was “proud to carry forward my father’s legacy of public service,” adding she would “work to strengthen the close ties between our two great countries.”

The American-led global economic and financial system is broken — you have only to look at the shenanigans in Washington these last few weeks to see that — so where are the clear thinkers who can dream of a plan to fix things, and where are the practical politicians who dare to try to shape a new world? It is time for Japan to take a lead.

Infectious diseases that leave victims with cognitive deficits or malnutrition instead of killing them do not typically elicit fundraising galas or research dollars, especially when the illnesses disproportionately impact the poorest of the poor. But a new coalition of funders is now trying to throw these neglected diseases a financial lifeline.

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