by
Sam Roggeveen
20 March 2008
More 'KEVIN RUDD MUST GO TO JAPAN RIGHT NOW!!!' hysteria in the SMH today. As I said earlier this week, Rudd has two visits to Japan planned this year, and that is surely enough. The fact that he is not going there on his first big trip strikes me as significant only if you regard our Japan relationship as a tiny, delicate flower that can be damaged by the slightest perceived offence, and which requires unceasing Prime Ministerial attention. But if that were true (and it isn't), we would have bigger problems than just the date of the PM's arrival in Tokyo.