Japan backs Southeast Asian states in claims against China

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

So it begins.

I have long maintained that Japan's slide back into imperialism and militarism is only a matter of time. And they're already securing a co-prosperity sphere as we speak.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

And China has only itself to blame.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Those damned Chinese forcing Japan to deny horrific massacres and mass sex slavery!

[BaconBacon96]

China is the aggressor here, not the Japanese.

[TDAS04]

Good.  Glad to see that Prime Minister Abe has a spine.  Of course Japan and the other countries shouldn't have to accommodate Chinese dickishness.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Those damned Chinese forcing Japan to deny horrific massacres and mass sex slavery!

More like those damned Chinese making Japan seem the better option to their neighbors despite that.  If they weren't being so idiotically aggressive, all of their neighbors would naturally fall into China's sphere because of its economic power.  Instead, China has managed to push away even Burma.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

The success of both Japan and Germany post defeat and destruction is nothing short of extraordinary.... credit goes both to the USA for taking responsibility for both after the war and of course to the resilient people in both nations

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Japan's current government isn't the best lot of people for this to be happening under but it is happening because China is alienating its neighbors with hyper-aggressive territorial and economic claims that in some cases seem to amount almost to crypto-irredentism, not because Japan is nefariously courting all these other countries' dependency and favor.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Japan's current government isn't the best lot of people for this to be happening under but it is happening because China is alienating its neighbors with hyper-aggressive territorial and economic claims that in some cases seem to amount almost to crypto-irredentism, not because Japan is nefariously courting all these other countries' dependency and favor.

Certainly China hasn't made itself the nicest of neighbors, but the rise of people like Ishihara makes me more worried about this returning:

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

That's an understandable concern, but fortunately the JRP's star has sunk considerably since the last election. They're back into sub-Kōmeitō territory in most polls. Even by the House of Councillors election last summer they were losing steam. The fact that the Abe Government also has strong nationalist tendencies is cause for worry, but sensationalizing beyond that is a little irresponsible.

[Peter the Lefty]

I'd be fine with Japan making itself more active on the world stage of only:

A. They'd stop visiting shrines to ing war criminals
B. They weren't led by a right-wing nationalist d*ck who denies history
C. They'd offer a genuine state apology, rather than just some 1995 declaration by some official in the Japanese government.  A full-out Willy Brandt Warsaw-style action is necessary. 

Until then, South Korea should be leading the anti-China bloc. 

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'd be fine with Japan making itself more active on the world stage of only:

A. They'd stop visiting shrines to ing war criminals
B. They weren't led by a right-wing nationalist d*ck who denies history
C. They'd offer a genuine state apology, rather than just some 1995 declaration by some official in the Japanese government.  A full-out Willy Brandt Warsaw-style action is necessary. 

Until then, South Korea should be leading the anti-China bloc. 

A is obviously contingent on B. As far as C is concerned, the incumbent Prime Minister at the time is hardly just 'some official', but I agree it's true that it's hard to feel particularly moved or mollified by the way 'On the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the War's End' is worded. I agree that I'd rather South Korea be the country doing things like this.

[dead0man]

AFAIK, nobody is stopping S.Korea from taking a larger role, they are just choosing not to.

[ag]

Japan's current government isn't the best lot of people for this to be happening under but it is happening because China is alienating its neighbors with hyper-aggressive territorial and economic claims that in some cases seem to amount almost to crypto-irredentism, not because Japan is nefariously courting all these other countries' dependency and favor.

Certainly China hasn't made itself the nicest of neighbors, but the rise of people like Ishihara makes me more worried about this returning:

japan isa democracy, in case tou did not notice. china is not.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Japan won't be a democracy in a decade if the current trends continue (and the Southeast Asian states they are courting are barely paragons of freedom either).

[dead0man]

We get it, you hate the Japanese.

[ingemann]

AFAIK, nobody is stopping S.Korea from taking a larger role, they are just choosing not to.

Yes there are something stopping South Korea

South Korea
Population: 50 million
GDP: $1.271 trillion

Japan
Population: 127 million
GDP: $5.007 trillion

[Peter the Lefty]

I'd be fine with Japan making itself more active on the world stage of only:

A. They'd stop visiting shrines to ing war criminals
B. They weren't led by a right-wing nationalist d*ck who denies history
C. They'd offer a genuine state apology, rather than just some 1995 declaration by some official in the Japanese government.  A full-out Willy Brandt Warsaw-style action is necessary. 

Until then, South Korea should be leading the anti-China bloc. 

A is obviously contingent on B. As far as C is concerned, the incumbent Prime Minister at the time is hardly just 'some official', but I agree it's true that it's hard to feel particularly moved or mollified by the way 'On the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the War's End' is worded. I agree that I'd rather South Korea be the country doing things like this.

Didn't realize a Prime Minister had said anything.  Still, I agree, the wording is pathetic.

[Simfan34]

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Hardly "pathetic", at least in the sense in which you put it.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Didn't realize a Prime Minister had said anything.

In fairness, I sometimes forget that run of non-LDP Prime Ministers in the nineties too, which is sad because Murayama was pretty good and could have been one of the greats had he been able to stay in office longer.

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

Certainly China hasn't made itself the nicest of neighbors, but the rise of people like Ishihara makes me more worried about this returning:

image

If you look at the death tolls, even the brutal Japanese occupation wasn't as bad as Mao's terror famines and Pol Pot's insanity. Even Ho Chi Minh's aggression against the South was by some metrics worse than Japanese occupation.
East Asia knows that prostitution is worse than genocide.