Jim Hoft has text and video excerpts from an excellent speech just given by President Bush in Japan praising the country as a great ally and calling for expanding freedoms in China. This reminded me of a similar speech Bush gave at Tsinghua University in China several years ago. Jim Hoft points out that the former president balked when given the chance to speak out for freedom in China earlier this year.

A moving part of the speech (at the beginning of the video) is when President Bush talks about how during WWII his father and the leader of Japan then fought on opposite sides, but now his son and Prime Minister Koizumi are elected leaders fighting on the same side.