When Japan's prime minister visited Washington this month, Japanese officials lobbied intensely to get him a one-on-one with Barack Obama. In the end, Yukio Hatoyama had to settle for just 10 minutes, and even that during a banquet when the US president was presumably more interested in the appetisers and wine. These things matter in Japan. One senior politician called the put-down – as it was inevitably viewed in Tokyo – “humiliating”. He even noted that the Japanese prime minister was shunted to the edge of a group photo, the diplomatic equivalent of banishment to Siberia.
本月，当日本首相访问华盛顿时，日本政府官员竭力游说，希望为首相赢得与美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)面对面对话的机会。最后鸠山由纪夫(Yukio Hatoyama)只得到了10分钟的机会，而且还是在一场宴会期间，当时美国总统更感兴趣的可能是开胃菜和葡萄酒。日本人对这样的事情十分在意。一位资深政治家称这种怠慢（显然日本官员将此看作是一种怠慢）是一种羞辱。他甚至指出，在合影时，日本首相被挤到了最边上，这在外交上相当于被流放到了西伯利亚。