President Obama on way to Asia.
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In Asia, President Barack Obama will be greeted by populations confident in his leadership abilities, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

President Barack Obama was headed to Asia on Thursday to first visit Japan, then attend the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Singapore and eventually wind up in China in his first trip to the region as the United States' head of state.

Researches for the Pew Global Attitudes Project report that Obama should be welcomed by Asian populaces confident in his leadership and who hold the nation he leads in significantly higher esteem than they did last year.

But, in a striking finding, Asians aren't nearly as positive about Obama as, say, Germans, Canadians and Brits.

An excerpt:

As President Barack Obama embarks on his first trip to Asia — which will include stops in Japan, China and South Korea — he will be greeted by publics who are confident in his judgment regarding world affairs and who generally agree with his international policies.

Like in much of the world, views of the United States have improved in Japan, China and South Korea over the past year, reflecting broad confidence in the new American president.

But improvements in U.S. image in the three countries on Obama's itinerary have not been as pronounced as they have been in many of the countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project in May and June of this year.