In the morning (their time 10am) / evening (our time 8pm), President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will depart Tokyo en route to Pyeongtaek, Republic of Korea.

In the afternoon, the President will have lunch with troops from the United States and the Republic of Korea. The President will then receive an operational briefing. Later in the afternoon, the President and First Lady will participate in an arrival ceremony. The President and the First Lady will then participate in a guest book signing.
The President will then have a bilateral meeting with President Moon Jae-In of the Republic of Korea, before having an expanded meeting. Following the meetings, the President will walk with President Moon.
The President and the First Lady will then have tea and take photographs with President Moon. The President will hold a joint press conference with President Moon. In the evening, the President and the First Lady will attend a state dinner.
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During a very powerful and solemn part of President and First Lady Trump’s visit to Japan, Mr. and Mrs. Trump stand side-by-side with the families of people abducted by North Korean regime.  In a moving statement President Trump vows to do his earnest best to work with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and to help get them back.
President Trump and First Lady Melania, together with Prime Minister Abe and Mrs Abe stand in front row of two rows of victims.  A total of 16 family members of abductees and one former abductee.   No U.S. President has ever drawn attention to this issue. Both leaders delivered short remarks:

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President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived at Ginza Ukatei for dinner at 7:33pm (local) 5:33am (eastern), with good friends PM Shinzo Abe and Mrs. Akie Abe.
The dinner included Hokkaido scallop & white truffle salad, sauteed shizuokas ise ebi bisque and Tajima beef steak (obviously w/ ketchup), according to a Japanese official. At 7:38pm (local) the couples appeared in front of reporters at the restaurant, where President Trump delivered brief remarks:

[Transcript] “Hello everybody. Thank you very much for being here. Were in the midst of having very major discussions on many subjects, including North Korea and trade and were doing very well. Doing very well. Our relationship is really extraordinary. We like each other and our countries like each other. And I dont think weve ever been closer to Japan than we are right now. Its a great honor, its a great honor. Well have dinner tonight. I think well insult everybody (smiling) by continuing to talk about trade. But the time is a little bit limited and then tomorrow is a very busy day.

Schedule for later tonight below:
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The White House shares that President Donald Trump called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Sunday to congratulate him on his overwhelming victory. PM Abe had called a snap election and his ruling coalition won a clear majority with more than two-thirds of the Japanese parliament’s 465 seats.

President Donald J. Trump spoke yesterday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to congratulate him on his recent electoral victory. The two leaders underscored the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and a strong United States-Japan alliance. President Trump reaffirmed his desire to continue working closely with Prime Minister Abe, and said he looks forward to visiting Japan in early November. (link)

Prime Minister Abe is a key strategic ally in the region from a national security and economic perspective. As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined extensively last week, the regional Indo-Pacific alliances are repositioning strategically against both the direct threat of the DPRK and the influence of China.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a key geopolitical ally to U.S. President Donald Trump and a big part of the larger strategic objective within the Trump Doctrine.  Both Abe and Trump are also personal friends. There’s zero doubt that Abe holds a golden ticket within the geopolitical economic re-balancing inherent in the Trump strategy.
The nationalists within Japan awaken today (Monday morning local) to massive smiles amid the results of the snap election. Meanwhile the globalists recoil in horror.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has won a decisive victory within an election focused specifically on establishing a mandate for increased national security and economic alliances.  PM Abe reestablishes a super-majority in Japan’s parliament.
Despite liberal western media selling a narrative about his unpopularity, Shinzo Abe strolled to victory on Sunday. The larger concerns in the country, mostly over North Korea’s provocative missile tests and U.S. President Donald Trump’s intention to: •contain the DPRK regime’s nuclear program; •confront China; and •execute the “America first” agenda supporting increased defense for Japan; led to Abe calling for a snap election to reset his mandate and align with the larger geopolitical plan.
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears with Mari Bartiromo to discuss the Iranian nuclear agreement and specifically President Trump’s call for revised security terms.
For those who travel through the deep geopolitical grass, this interview is particularly important as Netanyahu outlines the ‘why now’ aspect.  Note specifically how the Prime Minister frames the economic leverage strategy we have discussed –Backstory Here– and how the regional allies President Trump has assembled are all in concert with the larger objectives.  It’s actually a little surprising to see Netanyahu ‘out’ the Big picture.

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In the background, and as a direct counter to how President Trump is using the Trump Doctrine of economic leverage, you will note that China, Russia, Iran and other state adversaries are creating a financial network to avoid their exposure to U.S. trade currency leverage.  Their strategic action is what’s driving up the value of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin as tools to avoid Trump’s leverage and Secretary Mnuchin’s aligned economic policy influence.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appears on CBS Face The Nation with John Dickerson to discuss the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA).  The ideology of Dickerson puts him in a defensive posture on behalf of Iran.  Meanwhile T-Rex talks common sense.
The interview also encompasses the strategy to denuclearize North Korea and China’s role therein.  The value in this interview comes toward the latter half where the relationship of Secretary Tillerson and President Trump is discussed and how the interplay is part of the larger strategic objectives.  “It’s a strategy we’re not going to share with anyone, as the president has said”… etc.

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Just because western media doesn’t understand how President Trump executes a geopolitical strategy based on economic leverage, that doesn’t mean adversaries are not fully aware of the effectiveness of the approach.
The Trump Doctrine has two avenues toward dealing with national security adversaries.
The first route is direct assignment of responsibility toward the enablers: see China for North Korea; The Gulf States for Qatar (Sunni extremism); Russia for Syrian terrorism (Assad); and Pakistan for Afghanistan (Taliban); as recent examples.

However, when the geopolitical threat stems directly from the enabler, and not the enabled, the Trump Doctrine has a distinctly different and far more encompassing, approach.  Route two goes through leveraging regional allies and partners: See ASEAN and India for ¹China; and France, Poland, Baltic States for ²Russia.  And now President Trump is beginning to shift toward ³Iran.
In each case: China, Russia and Iran, unlike Western media, these powers assemble volumes of research to assist them in understanding the most likely sequence of events President Trump will take.
When we say volumes of research, we indeed mean hundreds of people researching and drafting position documents based upon every scintilla of every deal Donald J Trump has engaged in.  No expenses are spared as these state actors assemble information toward their own strategy to counter the most unpredictable adversary they have faced.
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Ahead of a working lunch with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, President Trump holds a consultation meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Mr. Kissinger has been an arms-length foreign policy adviser since the campaign.
Undoubtedly the requested Kissinger insight would be regarding China, and more specifically regarding Beijing, and the old communist guard’s outlook toward the ongoing communist congress currently taking place in the deepest bamboo forest.
President Trump took the media opportunity to discuss a myriad of ongoing issues including the collapsing ObamaCare issues and the ongoing tax proposals.

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The meeting with Kissinger follows a familiar pattern for those who have watched the nuance of President Trump and how he advances his own ideological philosophy by listening to historic advocates with insight into what Trump considers “prior failed policy”.
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The Backstory Here Is Important – Those who travel the deep weeds of politics might remember back in August when the Trump administration delayed $300 million in economic aid to Egypt.  The U.S. media made quite a fuss about it and claimed U.S. Egyptian relations would be stressed.  Reminder:

CAIRO— Egypt reacted angrily Wednesday to the Trump administration’s decision to cut or delay nearly $300 million in military and economic aid over human rights concerns, a surprise move given the increasingly close ties that have bound the two allies since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Hours after the U.S. announcement, Trump’s Middle East envoy, son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrived in Egypt as part of a Middle East tour to try to revive Arab-Israeli peace talks. He met with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and later conferred with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry before leaving for Israel.

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