Obama launches Asia tour in Japan

Barack Obama set foot in Asia for the first time as US President Friday, arriving in Japan to launch a four-nation tour designed to shore up US power in a region increasingly dominated by rising giant China.

Air Force One landed in a chill Tokyo drizzle ahead of Obama’s talks with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is vowing after ending half a century of conservative rule that Japan will be more assertive in its US alliance.