Janet Jalil

Listen to this man we met who supports the regime.

Back in the city, Ali Reza has a message of healing and optimism.

This celebration can be a time of renewal, but doing so with a thoughtful eye on our past.

But that history makes new beginnings, difficult and lasting peace even harder.

That report by Dan Johnson.

The Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takeuchi, has ended what she's described as a very difficult official visit to the US after deflecting President Trump's request for Japanese military assistance in his war against Iran.

Ms.

Takeuchi, who's established a warm rapport with Mr. Trump during their first meeting in Japan last October,

lavished praise on the U.S.

president but insisted that Japan's post-war pacifist constitution limited its ability to deploy its armed forces.

Jonathan Head reports.

Sanae Takeichi had one job on this visit, to avoid a public row with President Trump, and in that she succeeded.

She deployed a full arsenal of flattery and defection on Mr Trump, calling him my best buddy, to deflect his calls for Japanese military help in the Gulf.

It worked.

The US president said he still expected Japan to step up, pointing out its heavy dependence on oil from the Gulf, but did not subject her to the scorn he's poured on NATO allies,

for their refusal to deploy forces in support of his war against Iran.

There was one awkward moment when Mr Trump, responding to a question over why the US failed to warn its allies about the Iran plans, compared it to Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The two leaders did, however, agree on pushing forward, with Japan's promise made last year to invest $550 billion in the US in return for lighter tariffs.

The Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Washington had originally been timed to precede Mr Trump's planned summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to get across Japan's concerns over China's increasing belligerence in East Asia.

The Iran conflict has now forced the US to postpone that meeting.