Japan-U.S. relations are more uncertain and subject to greater strain today than at any time since World War II. Longstanding military allies and increasingly interdependent economic partners, Japan and the United States have worked closely together to build a strong, multifaceted relationship based on democratic values and interests in world stability and development. But Japan today is our foremost economic and technological competitor. The Cold War thaw, discord in U.S.-Japanese relations over the Iraq-Kuwait crisis of 1990-1991, a protracted U.S. recession, and exigencies of U.S. election-year politics raised new questions about the appropriate U.S. policy toward this Asian ally.