If Japan needed reassurances it was indeed still the US's top ally and friend in the increasingly unstable Asia-Pacific, it got that and then some. But what was striking about the Trump-Ishiba meeting at the White House was what didn't happen.

President Donald Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba around 11:30 a.m. Friday at the White House. It is Trump’s first official meeting with Ishiba, and the meeting is expected to begin the new administration’s relations with Japan.

Determined to strike a chord with Trump to improve his political standing at home, Ishiba arrived at the White House with promises to increase Japanese investment in the U.S., to cooperate on AI, semiconductors and defense and to work quickly to rebalance a trade deficit that favors Japan.