Hosting Japan’s leader first, Biden signals new global priorities

Japan has been an underappreciated U.S. ally. With a White House invitation, President Joe Biden is underlining the two countries’ common principles as a crucial counterweight to China.

When Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide becomes, on Friday, the first foreign leader to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House, it will break a long and pretty consistently kept tradition.

The first foreign leader to visit the new U.S. president is a distinction generally reserved for the British prime minister to highlight the “special relationship.” Making Mr. Suga the...