[Ronin4hire]

Examples of the kind of political pressure America puts on Japan.

-The bases in Okinawa.
Various polls have shown that the majority of Okinawans want to get rid of the bases altogether. However the Japanese government continues to allow them there.

-The Iraq war.
Japan was part of the "coalition of the willing" despite widespread opposition in Japan to the war.

-Nuclear weapons.
The DPJ revealed to the public (despite the Americans making no secret of it) the fact that under the LDP, American nuclear weapons were stored in Japan (and I think still are stored there). Of course Japan being an anti-nuclear country... this is a pretty big issue.