Japan­ese prime min­is­ter address­es ‘under­cur­rent of self-doubt’ about US role abroad 

Japan­ese Prime Min­is­ter Fumio Kishi­da empha­sized the impor­tance of the alliance between the Unit­ed States and Japan and urged law­mak­ers not to retreat from their role on the world stage dur­ing what he called an “inflec­tion point” in his­to­ry dur­ing a joint address to Con­gress on Thurs­day.
“As we meet here today, I detect an under­cur­rent of self-doubt among some Amer­i­cans about what your role in the world should be,” Kishi­da told Con­gress. “This self-doubt is aris­ing at a time when our world is at history’s turn­ing point.”
Kishi­da, elect­ed in 2021, is the first Japan­ese prime min­is­ter to address Con­gress since for­mer Prime Min­is­ter Shin­zo Abe trav­eled to Wash­ing­ton in 2015. His speech to a joint meet­ing of Con­gress comes as Kishi­da is set to par­tic­i­pate in an inau­gur­al U.S.-Japan-Philippines tri­lat­er­al sum­mit at the White House with Pres­i­dent Joe Biden and Philip­pine Pres­i­dent Fer­di­nand Mar­cos Jr.
Japan is …