This is likely insignificant, yet gives some hope. Japan may yet refrain from becoming a pawn, as it would surely be obliterated in a conflict with China. Unfortunately, this is probably but a squabble over blame for imperial incompetence.
Cup half full: either Japan is incompetent or ths US was and is trying to pin the blame on Japan, which will push them away. It could also be a pretext to warn Japan it can be dropped military in an attempt to draw them in, a sort of threat or loyalty test. Either way, imperial disunity favors multipolarity and AES.
Japan, despite its recent violent history with China, Russia, and Korea, has infinitely more to gain from becoming closer to those countries than being a sacrifice for the United States.
Well, Japan has a history of recognizing it is small, limited in resources, and must adopt systems that work instead of going it alone. It's possible that, having done this a couple times already, they are now very aware of what works and what doesn't and are biding their time before the inevitable fall of the West makes it safer for them to "pivot to Asia".
I like to think Japan sees the writing on the walls. Even with their not-so-friendly history with China, I think they know in the event of conflict they’d be wiped off the map pretty much immediately and would like that to not happen
The US is drowning, and trying to pull as many of their allies under with them. The smarter ones are trying to avoid that, the dumber ones are rushing headlong into the water.
I don't really understand what's going on. Just recently, Japan was pushing for its inclusion into NATO and ramping up its military; meanwhile, they seem to be increasingly interested in distancing itself from the US, such as steadily dumping its US treasury holdings. In any case, I hope that this ends for the better and that the US-Japan relationship can finally be dismantled.
We have a lot of weird opposing political elements.
There's the LDP, who are the good American lapdogs. They have been in power uninterrupted since WW2. They're...not popular exactly, but people are so politically apathetic that the people who bother to vote just vote for them almost out of habit. Within them you have the even more right-wing nationalists who drive around with the loudspeaker trucks (if you have been here, you know what I mean) and advocate for a remilitarized Japan.
But we have other sects that are getting more vocal too. Ryukyuu/Okinawa is increasingly upset about the American occupation of their territory; US troops cause endless problems there just like in SK. Everytime US troops pull their bullshit, more and more Japanese want to distance themselves a little bit more from the US. The public is very reticient to remilitarize, and anytime the US tries to push Japan in that direction we tend to balk.
Marxist ideas are still commonly taught in univeristies, and while we have a very large communist party, they are pretty reactionary and have taken a more anti-China stance in recent years to try to broaden their appeal. There have been more local elements, the ones I am involved with at least, that are much more pro-China and trying to push the party back in that direction.
A little bit off-topic, but I would like to know what you think is the average Japanese youth's opinion of China; high school- to university-age students, specifically. I feel like your opinion would be solid since you seem to be living in Japan.