Obama and Hatoyama- How will two historic elections change US-Japan-China relations?

For the past 50 years the Japanese government has been a solid ally of the United States, hosting a large portion of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and supporting American foreign policy. Since the fall of the Soviet Union they have been part of an American policy to integrate and balance the power of a rising China. For virtually the entire 50 years the conservative Liberal Democratic Party has run Japan.
In the post war period the US had a dual interest in rebuilding Japan, to prevent the resurgence of a hostile military and to cultivate an alliance with a major East Asian nation to counter Russian influence. The postwar Japanese constitution prohibited Japan from having a military and LDP leaders embraced the policy of reliance on US military protection and a focus on economic growth, which led Japan to become the 2nd largest economy in the world in less than 50 years.
This year the opposition Democratic Party of Japan won control, signaling a possibility for substantial change in the US Japan and the Japan China sides of the balanced triangle of power in East Asian. In the late 80’s and into the early 90’s Japan was considered to be a real threat to US economic dominance, but soon after entered a prolonged recession dubbed the “lost decade”, as China’s growth boomed. By the mid 90’s the rise of China was a main foreign policy concern for the US. In 1996 the Clinton administration considered a policy of containment toward China but decided on an “integrate and balance” strategy instead, where China’s growth would be tied to the continued balance of power in the region between the US, Japan and China.
Japan’s centrality to the United States’ security policy in East Asia makes it one of our most important allies. This month President Obama is scheduled to meet with Prime minister Hatoyama and an item causing friction between the administrations is the relocation of a US base in Futenma Okinawa. At issue is the shifting of 8000 troops to Guam and relocation of the base to a remote area of Okinawa. Hatoyama has said he wants the based moved from Okinawa altogether.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called on Japan to move forward with the planned realignment and for the Hatoyama administration to make a decision before the President’s scheduled visit despite the original deal having been made with the LDP.
Clearly, after two decades of economic stagnation following 50 years of fast-paced growth, while watching China’s economy boom and US companies increasingly investing in the Chinese market, the Japanese government is re-evaluating the value of their alliance with the US. Although it doesn’t make front-page headlines here in the US, it might be good for the Obama administration to do the same.