Japanese Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda was criticized for not taking a stand sooner on whether Japan should join talks on a U.S.-led Asia-Pacific trade pact. Noda had spoken of the pact's merits often enough to make it clear that he favored Japan's participation, yet he declared Tokyo's interest only after party experts failed to reach a compromise. Noda's critics are missing the point, says Jeff Kingston of Temple University, Japan Campus. "Noda has taken a bold stand and the way he did it is interesting — he went through the motions of listening to all the objections and then ignored them, realizing it would be impossible to forge a consensus."