By Kiyoshi Takenaka and John Geddie

TOKYO (Reuters) -Among the gifts offered up by Japan’s new premier Sanae Takaichi to U.S. President Donald Trump in their first meeting on Tuesday was a putter used by Shinzo Abe, his golfing buddy and the country’s late leader.

Displayed in a glass case alongside a gold-leaf golf ball and bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama, the club was just one of a litany of references to Trump’s bond with Abe that underpinned ties between the countries during his first term.

It is a bond that Takaichi, a protegee of Abe, who was assassinated by a lone gunman in 2022, will be eager to rekindle to bolster her minority administration and navigate thorny issues such as defence spending that might crop up, analysts say.

“I think it has significant me

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