Outgoing US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel says the US-Japan alliance is better prepared for the future than when he took office three years ago.

Emanuel spoke to NHK at his official residence in Tokyo on Monday. He is due to leave the post mid-January as President Joe Biden leaves office.

He said overall bilateral relationship is "better prepared to meet the challenges of the future and to make the most of those challenges and opportunities" for the peoples of the two nations. He noted that he can never say he did everything but that US-Japan relations are better positioned.

Emanuel referred to Japan's efforts to increase in defense spending and updating of its national security and defense strategies. He said, "Japan's investments in its own defense enticed us to make one of the most important security changes in 60 years in the United States." He said putting in the command and control functions in Japan will have the benefit of learning from each other and integrating closer.

Asked about the incoming US administration of Donald Trump's security stance vis-a-vis Japan, Emanuel said. "I don't want to prejudge it." He went on to say that multilateral security and diplomatic initiatives give Japan's deterrence a force that no one country can do on their own. He said there is value in multilateralism.

Emanuel said that Japan has a lot of backers in the House and the Senate and that Japan is the number one direct foreign investor in the United States for the last five years. He said these things have "a special appeal" to Trump.