Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this week makes the first state visit in nearly a decade by a Japanese leader to the United States, with defence cooperation high on the agenda. Here are five points about the countries’ relationship: – WWII adversaries – Formal ties between Japan and the United States date back to the mid-19th century, when US Commodore Matthew Perry and his “black ships” flotilla forced Japan out of two centuries of self-imposed isolation. […]