On April 10, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida—who arrived on Monday for the Official Visit for the first time in 9 years as Japanese prime minister—met in the White House. Following the meeting, the two leaders rolled out the two countries’ shared vision to situate the U.S.-Japan alliance as “the beacon for the world.”

What is notable about the discourse between the two leaders was the tone. Even though past U.S. presidents always referred to Japan as one of the most important allies in the world, there was always an unspoken reality that Tokyo, at the end of the day, was Washington’s junior alliance partner. The contrast was evident from Biden’s remarks—frequently praising Kishida’s “leadership” by unequivocally speaking up against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and his efforts to unite the international community based on the two countries’ shared values such as democracy and rule of law—that the Administration genuinely considers Japan as an equal partner.

In a joint press conference, the two leaders announced a number of concrete agreements that pave the way to elevate the bilateral alliance—which long served as “the cornerstone of peace and prosperity for the Indo-Pacific region—to the anchor of the liberal international order. Indeed, the list is long and touches a wide variety of policy areas. From sending Japanese astronauts to the moon under the auspice of the NASA-led Artemis Program, launching joint research on AI and other emerging advanced technologies, to starting the consultation to modernize the way that the two militaries coordinate their operations, an impressively long list of concrete deliverables demonstrate two countries’ unambiguous commitment to qualitatively transform the U.S.-Japan alliance to the global partnership.

Now that Biden and Kishida have shown their vision of the roadmap for the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance, the real hard work begins for the officials of both countries to bring this vision into reality.