Tokyo-bound US envoy Rahm Emanuel draws mixed feelings in Japan for brash style, views on Chicago stint
- The former Chicago mayor pledged to boost unity between the US, Japan and South Korea and confront efforts by China and North Korea to divide them
- But Emanuel’s brash style and lack of foreign policy experience have raised questions about his ability to carry out diplomacy at the highest levels
Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment as the new US ambassador to Japan has drawn mixed reactions in Tokyo, with commentators questioning if the brash political insider can execute diplomacy at the highest levels of government.
The Japanese foreign ministry on Sunday announced that Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi had congratulated Emanuel, adding that he was looking forward to working with him to further strengthen the Japan-US alliance and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Yoichi Shimada, professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University, said from Japan’s perspective, Emanuel was “clearly very close to [US President Joe] Biden and former president [Barack] Obama, so having those links to the people at the centre of power can be beneficial to Japan”.
“On the other hand, we know that he has had many troubles in US politics and he has a reputation for making abrasive comments, so the smoothness of his time in Japan will depend entirely on him,” Shimada said.
Emanuel, who served in Congress as well as being senior adviser to former president Bill Clinton and Obama’s first chief of staff, is known as a brash political insider with an affinity for four-letter words.