Rahm Emanuel's forceful style gets unexpected welcome in Japan

(Bloomberg) — When Joe Biden held a video summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in January, the American president joked that his counterpart should be careful with the incoming U.S. ambassador.

Rahm Emanuel -- the former Chicago mayor and long-time Democratic Party insider with a reputation for butting heads -- seemed like an odd fit for a diplomatic post in a conservative country where change is often glacial. In the meeting with Kishida, Biden reassured the Japanese leader that Emanuel had his complete trust, according to an official with knowledge of the talks.

So far, Emanuel appears to be causing less friction than during his eight tumultuous years in city hall. Fellow diplomats and Japanese officials say Emanuel’s hands-on approach at least in part explains Tokyo’s surprisingly forceful response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Everybody said it’s unbelievably slow and it’s going to be a torturous process,” Emanuel, 62, said in an interview with Bloomberg News on March 17 at his residence in the Japanese capital. “I’m sure I’ll run into it. But... that hasn’t been the case.”

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While Japan’s decision to sanction Russia is based on its own strategic interests -- including deterring any similar action by China against Taiwan -- the rapid clampdown stands in contrast to its muted response in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. Not only has the government stripped Russia of its most-favored-nation trade status and frozen assets, but Japanese companies have also halted business in Russia.

Officials in Japan say Emanuel, the onetime chief of staff to former U.S. President Barack Obama whose combative style earned him the nickname “Rahmbo,” has brought to the post a degree of political savvy not seen in decades. 

“The speed with which Japan came completely on board with U.S. and G-7 sanctions on Russia must be due at least in part to the effective communications facilitated by Ambassador Emanuel,” said Jan Adams, Australia’s ambassador to Tokyo, herself a veteran of trade negotiations with Japan. “There’s nothing like the political appointment that’s so close to the president, the White House, the party and the Congress.”

Emanuel’s appointment, confirmed in December despite some objections from within the Democratic Party, ended a gap of two-and-a-half years with no envoy in place from Japan’s sole treaty ally. While Caroline Kennedy brought star power to the job under the Obama administration, few with Emanuel’s political experience and contacts have been picked for the post. 

He began to influence events before setting foot in Tokyo in January, according to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara, a close aide to Kishida, and a senior diplomat at the U.S. embassy who asked not to be named. Both credit him with pulling together the virtual summit in January. The U.S. official said he also helped resolve the problem of Covid-19 cases linked to U.S. military bases in Japan that threatened to sour ties, reaching out directly to General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“He’s in Japan, but he’s showing American leadership inside Japan, in the same way as in Washington,” said Kihara, who has met with Emanuel several times. By bringing together Tokyo-based envoys from Group of Seven and European countries to discuss Ukraine, he’s created a kind of U.S. “hub” that could in the future support the Free and Open Indo-Pacific agenda, he added.

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Emanuel played a key role in reaching a partial agreement to lift Section 232 tariffs on Japanese steel that had rankled Tokyo since their imposition in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump. Trade Minister Koichi Hagiuda cited a request from Emanuel as one reason Japan agreed to divert some liquefied natural gas to Europe if needed, ahead of the Russian attack.

A pledge to prioritize the case of Greg Kelly, a former Nissan Motor Co. director who was charged with helping Carlos Ghosn understate his compensation, was also checked off the to-do list when Emanuel waved the American citizen off at the airport this month after he received a suspended sentence. This week, a dispute over tariffs on U.S. beef imports has been resolved. 

Each of these steps has been highlighted in frequent posts on Emanuel’s Twitter feed, which also shows him breaking with tradition by walking to meetings with senior Japanese officials and catching the train, rather than the standard armored BMW, to visit the U.S. naval base at Yokosuka. 

The U.S. ambassador has emphasized common ground with Japanese officials, giving the country’s music-loving foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, an autographed guitar strap from Chicago Blues legend Buddy Guy. He’s scheduled to join Kishida on Saturday for a tour of Hiroshima, the site of the first of two U.S. atomic bomb attacks at the end of World War II.  

Emanuel said domestic and international circumstances were aligned for Japan to bolster its U.S. alliance. The war in Ukraine has renewed focus on the security challenges posed by China, and Kishida faces a July election in which he will want to showcase a close relationship with Biden and an ability to manage the alliance. 

“We are at a different moment in a different time that requires we modernize and strengthen it in a way and at a pace that has not been true for the last 40 years,” Emanuel said. “This is a unique opportunity.”

Stronger ties could enable the U.S. to be closely involved as Japan revises documents that define its security and defense strategy this year. They could also help in building an alternative economic framework to the regional Trans-Pacific Partnership which was rejected by Trump when he came to office in 2017.

Nonetheless, there’s a limit to how much one person can sway a relationship that’s remained largely solid since the end of the U.S. occupation 70 years ago. 

While Japan has broken new ground in the past few weeks, such as by shipping nonlethal military equipment to Ukraine, its Self-Defense Forces remain hemmed in by a pacifist constitution unchanged since it was imposed by the U.S. after the war. 

Kishida earlier this month told his ruling Liberal Democratic Party he planned to bolster Japan’s defenses, strengthen the U.S. alliance and press harder for reform of the United Nations in response to Russia’s invasion. But he’s shut down suggestions of “nuclear sharing” with the U.S. 

While sanctions on Russia are popular with Japanese voters, polls show few are in favor of direct military aid for Ukraine. The government has steered clear of banning energy imports or ending oil and LNG joint ventures with Russian entities, moves which might damage the economy.  

“Japan does have restrictions, so there are things we can and can’t do,” Kihara said. “But we’ll do all we can.”

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