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OSO, Wash. Standing beneath a banner proclaiming "Oso Strong" one month after the deadly landslide, President Obama told the residents of the hard-hit Stillaguamish Valley that the nation is grieving with them as they struggle to rebuild homes, businesses and families.

"There are still families who are searching for loved ones," Obama said after an aerial tour of the devastation aboard the presidential helicopter Marine One and a visit with survivors and first responders. "There are families who have lost everything, and it's going to be a difficult road ahead for them. That's why I wanted to come here. To let you know that the country is thinking about all of you."

The slide hit on a sunny Saturday morning, sending millions of cubic yards of mud and debris roaring down a hillside about an hour's drive north of Seattle, flattening dozens of homes, closing crucial State Route 530 and largely cutting off the small town of Darrington.

Marine One flew directly over the square mile of devastation that first responders have dubbed "the pile," giving the president a dramatic view of damage Tuesday.

The landscape was littered with ripped-up trees. A one-mile swath of highway had disappeared beneath the slide. Bright yellow excavators trundled across the pile, continuing the monthlong effort to recover bodies and belongings. An American flag flew at half-staff amid the wreckage.

Officials said this week that at least 41 people were killed in the fast-moving disaster, and two people remain missing. The highway is still covered in about 100,000 cubic yards of debris, and the state's Department of Transportation estimates that it could take up to three more months to clear the roadway.

"We hope to have one lane of SR 530 with alternating traffic, local traffic, by this fall," the department said on its website. "However, the roadway underneath the slide could be significantly damaged. It's too soon to tell if the road will be drivable once the debris has been cleared."

After the fly-over, Obama rode in a motorcade through the nearby rural town of Arlington, where dozens of residents lined the streets and waved. In one front yard was a pickup covered in football memorabilia and bearing the name Jovon Mangual.

The 13-year-old died of multiple blunt-force injuries in the March 22 disaster. So did his stepfather, Billy L. Spillers, 30, and his stepsisters Kaylee B. Spillers, 5, and Brooke Spillers, 2.

Shortly after the slide hit, the White House approved an emergency declaration so that state and local responders would have the resources they needed. Obama then declared a major disaster so that residents and business owners could rebuild.

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Obama tours Washington mudslide devastation, praises rescuers

President Barack Obama arrived in Japan to start a four-country tour of Asia aimed at advancing a Pacific-nations trade pact and reassuring allies the U.S. will back their security interests, including in territorial disputes with China.

Obama landed in Tokyo at 6:49 p.m. local time. The itinerary of his third visit to Japan as president includes a meeting and news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a state dinner with the Imperial family, tour of Tokyos Meiji Shrine, and round table with business executives.

Our engagement with China does not and will not come at the expense of Japan or any other ally, Obama said in an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun published hours before he arrived. Obama will also visit South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, returning to Washington on April 29.

Japan and the U.S. were not set to announce a breakthrough in talks on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, as differences over Japanese beef and pork tariffs and the auto industry impede an agreement. Still, U.S. officials expressed optimism that meetings between Obama, 52, and Abe, 59, could give the negotiations some traction.

Japan posted a wider-than-forecast trade deficit last month, adding to Abes challenges following an April 1 sales-tax increase. The 1.8 percent rise in the value of shipments overseas from a year earlier, reported this week by the Ministry of Finance, compared with a 6.5 percent median estimate of 27 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Obama also is urging Japan and South Korea to improve relations and seeking to coordinate with Abe on ways to ease tensions over disputed islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

The U.S. recognizes Japan as the sole administrator of the unpopulated islands, which China has challenged through the positioning of ships and flying of surveillance aircraft, escalating military tensions. In November, China declared an air defense identification zone over a large part of the East China Sea. Japan on April 19 broke ground on a new radar base on its westernmost island to improve surveillance in the area.

Obama reiterated the U.S. position in the Yomiuri Shimbun interview, saying it is clear -- the Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan and therefore fall within the scope of Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. And we oppose any unilateral attempts to undermine Japans administration of these islands.

China has signaled a strong stance in territorial disputes in both the East and South China Sea. The Philippines last month challenged Chinas assertions to much of the South China Sea, submitting a claim for arbitration to a United Nations tribunal.

The U.S. should be discreet in word and deed and play a constructive role in the East China Sea dispute, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters today in Beijing.

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Obama Visit to Japan to Set Tone for Four-Nation Asia Tour

Obama travels to Japan without the first lady, and Japanese tongues are wagging about what that says about Japan's place on the US priority list. After all, Michelle Obama and daughters recently went to (gasp!) China.

When Japan scored Caroline Kennedy as the new US ambassador to Tokyo last year, Japanese officials and media were ecstatic. That President Obama had named such a globally recognized figure and the daughter of a widely beloved and glamorous president to represent the United States in Japan was seen as a sign of the countrys enduring importance to Washington.

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But that was then. Now on the eve of Mr. Obamas state visit to Tokyo this week, Japan is back to openly fretting about its place on Americas priority list particularly in comparison to rising rival China.

The reason? When Obama arrives Wednesday evening, hell disembark Air Force One solo without first lady Michelle Obama. Obama will be the first US president to come to Japan on a state visit in 18 years, but never mind: Michelles absence has thrown Tokyo into a tizzy.

Media commentators, social media discussions, academics, even some officials, named and unnamed, are wringing their hands over Mrs. Obamas decision to sit out not just Japan but her husbands entire eight-day Asia trip, which will also take in South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

At least one miffed member of the Diet, Japans parliament, has gone so far as to become snarky so not like Japan and intimate that the presidents solo travel must say something about the state of the Obama marriage.

But for most of those doing the chattering, Mrs. Obamas absence is a woeful sign of Japans retreat from the top tier of Americas allies.

No doubt the first lady's no-show would have disappointed and prompted speculation under just about any circumstances. But what has really thrown the Japanese for a loop is that her failure to grace Japan with her presence comes within a month of Mrs. Obamas widely covered trip with daughters, Sasha and Malia, to (shudder at the thought) China.

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Obama goes stag to Asia, and Japanese don't like it

Obama travels to Japan without the first lady, and Japanese tongues are wagging about what that says about Japan's place on the US priority list. After all, Michelle Obama and daughters recently went to (gasp!) China.

When Japan scored Caroline Kennedy as the new US ambassador to Tokyo last year, Japanese officials and media were ecstatic. That President Obama had named such a globally recognized figure and the daughter of a widely beloved and glamorous president to represent the United States in Japan was seen as a sign of the countrys enduring importance to Washington.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

But that was then. Now on the eve of Mr. Obamas state visit to Tokyo this week, Japan is back to openly fretting about its place on Americas priority list particularly in comparison to rising rival China.

The reason? When Obama arrives Wednesday evening, hell disembark Air Force One solo without first lady Michelle Obama. Obama will be the first US president to come to Japan on a state visit in 18 years, but never mind: Michelles absence has thrown Tokyo into a tizzy.

Media commentators, social media discussions, academics, even some officials, named and unnamed, are wringing their hands over Mrs. Obamas decision to sit out not just Japan but her husbands entire eight-day Asia trip, which will also take in South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

At least one miffed member of the Diet, Japans parliament, has gone so far as to become snarky so not like Japan and intimate that the presidents solo travel must say something about the state of the Obama marriage.

But for most of those doing the chattering, Mrs. Obamas absence is a woeful sign of Japans retreat from the top tier of Americas allies.

No doubt the first lady's no-show would have disappointed and prompted speculation under just about any circumstances. But what has really thrown the Japanese for a loop is that her failure to grace Japan with her presence comes within a month of Mrs. Obamas widely covered trip with daughters, Sasha and Malia, to (shudder at the thought) China.

See more here:
Obama goes stag to Asia, and Japanese don't like it (+video)

Opening a four-country swing through the Asia-Pacific region, President Barack Obama is aiming to promote the U.S. as a committed economic, military and political partner, but the West's dispute with Russia over Ukraine threatens to cast a shadow over the president's sales mission.

Obama arrived in Tokyo late Wednesday for an official state visit after flying overnight from the U.S. He headed straight for a private dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, setting the stage for bilateral talks Thursday. Obama will also be the guest of honor at a state dinner Thursday night at the Imperial Palace, the moat-lined and stone-walled home of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. He is traveling without first lady Michelle Obama.

The eight-day trip is a do-over of the Asia tour Obama had scheduled last October but canceled in the midst of the partial shutdown of the U.S. government.

As with last fall's trip, the White House wants to keep the focus on Obama's promised "rebalance" of U.S. policy toward Asia, after years of attention on the Middle East and the fight against terrorism. One goal of Obama's stops in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines is to demonstrate the benefits to America of deeper economic relations with the fast-growing region.

But the continued need for Obama to devote time and energy to more pressing matters at home and abroad has fostered lingering doubts here about the depth of the U.S. commitment. And the situation in Ukraine threatens to divert at least some of Obama's attention this week.

Relations between neighbors Russia and Ukraine remain tense nearly a week after both countries, the U.S. and the European Union inked an agreement in Geneva calling on Moscow to use its influence over pro-Russian forces to have them lay down their arms and end their occupation of government buildings in eastern Ukraine.

Each side accuses the other of failing to uphold its end of the deal.

The White House, which lays the blame squarely on Russia and praises Ukraine for behaving responsibly, has said it is monitoring the situation closely and is prepared, without being specific about a timeline, to slap additional sanctions on Russia "in the coming days" if it fails to abide by the terms of the tenuous deal.

"We are calling on all parties to comply with the commitments they've made," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling with Obama.

The U.S. response in Ukraine has unsettled some Asian countries, leaving them to wonder how reliable a partner the U.S. would be if they ever faced a similar situation given their own sea and air disputes with China. They are seeking reassurance from Obama.

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Obama Opens 4-Country, Asia-Pacific Trip in Tokyo