Another lost yearSome unspoken truths about Japan’s security relationship with America LESS than a month after a new government took office in Japan in September 2009, American officials talked their Japanese counterparts through a longstanding frustration: stalled plans to build a new airbase for American marines on the southern island of Okinawa. According to confidential minutes of the meeting
![Another lost year](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/50d15193accd34d4bbbe69069986a76a600df2cb/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Farticles%2Fmigrated%2F20110528_asp001_0.jpg)