Such reflexive distrust of Japan is unhealthy for all concerned. Both the US and Japan's East Asian neighbors need to recognize that early 21st century Japan bears almost no resemblance to the aggressive, militaristic Japan of the 1930s. Today's Japan is a stable, democratic country with an enormous economic stake in the regional and global status quo. There are other great powers that are far more likely than Japan to disrupt the peace of East Asia. Those people who fear the rebirth of Japanese militarism are chasing ghosts.
Japan needs to become a normal great power in every respect.
Likewise, discouraging Beijing from forcibly absorbing Taiwan should be a matter of the highest priority to Japanese leaders, since such an act of aggression would change the entire balance of power in the region. Contrary to the Washington Post, Singapore elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew and others who warn of resurgent Japanese nationalism, the danger is not that Japan will seek to do too much too soon in the security arena. Given the growing signs of turmoil in East Asia, the real danger is that Japan will do too little, too late. Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington.