With Joe Biden declaring victory in the U.S. presidential election, governors and mayors across Japan pin their hopes on the former U.S. vice president, who has shown his willingness to emphasize international cooperation and put U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policy in the rearview mirror.
Issues such as the novel coronavirus pandemic that require the world to unite need to be addressed. Japan's leaders are hopeful Biden is up to the challenge.
"More than anything, I expect him to take measures against the coronavirus," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Monday.
Although the governor stopped short of mentioning how the pandemic will affect the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which have been postponed until next summer, she touched upon Sunday's holding of an international gymnastics competition in Tokyo.
"It all depends on our continuous efforts to contain a rise in infections and prevent the virus from spreading at the Games," Koike said.
As of Monday, about 9.97 million people in the United States have been infected with the virus, the highest number in the world.
"It's essential that infection cases in the United States level off to hold the Games," said a senior Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official. "It's up to Biden's leadership [to make it happen]."
-- Hiroshima, Nagasaki visits?
The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki expressed hopes that Biden will visit the cities struck by the United States with atomic bombs.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui issued a statement on Monday indicating his desire that Biden "will make steady progress toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, and we would like to request that he visit the atomic-bombed city."
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue also released a statement, saying, "I want him to see what happened under the atomic cloud with his eyes, hear it with his ears and feel it with his heart."
"Biden appears to have a flexible way of thinking, so I believe he will listen to the voices of hibakusha," said Shizuko Abe, 93, a member of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who is working to resolve the U.S. base issue, released a statement on Sunday, in which he hoped that Biden "will work toward realizing dialogue and building relations with Okinawa."
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