Obama's Japan visit unlikely to be fruitful

On Oct 3, 2013, the White House announced that President Barack Obama had cancelled plans to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting because of the US government shutdown. Ever since the US administration had been crafting plans for Obama to visit Asia.

On Wednesday, Air Force One will land in Tokyo. Japan is the US president's first destination on an East Asian tour that will also take him to the Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia. Obama's trip has sparked discussions for obvious reasons. Most of the speculation focuses on his anticipated talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. At the last moment, Obama's stay in Japan was extended to three days (from the originally planned two) with Tokyo announcing that he would visit as a state guest - an arrangement that means a lot photo-ops.

Trade will be high on Obama's agenda. The US administration had hoped to use October's APEC meeting to advance progress on the US-led trade initiative known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But few anticipated any sort of breakthrough in negotiations. Given the domestic situation in Japan and some other countries, forward movement was considered unlikely. This has not changed.