The much-acclaimed film Lost in Translation uses Tokyo and the Japanese as a backdrop for a very American plot. Much the same could be said of Barack Obama’s trip to Asia, which began in Tokyo on Friday.

White House officials have made it plain that the underlying theme of President Obama’s seven-day trip to Asia is to tell the region, “We’re back”, after eight years of supposed neglect under George W. Bush. But if Mr Obama’s 14-hour flight to Tokyo was any guide, it is Afghanistan, not the Asian trip and deliberations, that looms over the US president wherever he goes.