This first meeting between Japan's new leader and the US president has shocked audiences worldwide. Online, many say Takaichi looks more like Trump's "puppet" than a partner.

In exchange for lower tariffs, Japan has made sweeping promises of investment in the US. Takaichi reportedly told Trump that Toyota would invest $10 billion, and that Japan would buy more US rice and soybeans, while further opening its market to American-made vehicles.

Since the end of World War II, Japan has become a pawn in Washington's power game in Asia. Perhaps this meeting is an uncomfortable reminder that, eight decades after the war, Japan still struggles to find an independent voice.