The eight senators who crossed the aisle to break the shutdown impasse all said the same thing. As Tim Kaine of Virginia put it, “After 40 days, it wasn’t gonna work.” It usually doesn't. Since 1981, there have been five major shutdowns of the U.S. federal government. Brinksmanship more often harms public trust than it changes policy. The House is poised to vote Wednesday to reopen the government. After that, American lawmakers might draw a useful tip from a friend across the Pacific.

“One should not decide matters alone,” Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae told parliament last month in her first policy speech since taking office. “Politics is not about making decisions dogmatically. Instead, politics is the act of talking together, struggling together, and making decisions together.”