Flexing it's muscles !

Neighbouring countries have very good  reason to be apprehensive.   Japan is about to emerge from the economic sloth that has seen it's economy wither in recent decades.   The paralysis of rapidly changing political leadership seems to be over.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic party has secured control of both houses of parliament and looks rock solid until at least 2016.   Abe has signalled a more aggressive stance for Japan on the world stage - and this looks like dumping the pacifist constitution forced on the country at the end of the second world war.

A defeated Japan had to bend to the victor's will.   It was only allowed a modest " defence force " and it's security was guarantee by a treaty shielding it under the American nuclear umbrella.   Abe believes that now is the time to consign the past to history - and that Japan must return to world councils as a country freed from all past restrictions.

The writing has been on the wall for some time.   Japanese history books used in the school system tell a censored version of Japan's conduct in the second world war.   Shrines to Japan's war dead include leaders convicted and executed for war crimes - and these are openly visited and honoured by political leaders.  Japan has been sabre rattling with China and other countries over islands in the South China sea - and Abe seems more aggressive in pursuing closure on this issue.

A more militant Japan will be of concern to neighbouring countries. Eventually, it must raise the nuclear issue.   The fact that both China and North Korea have nuclear weapons puts Japan at a disadvantage.   If the gulf widens between Japan and it's American protector, Japan may feel that having nuclear weapons is essential if it sits at the world table on equal terms.   This could spark a new  arms race in the Pacific region.

A Japan shaking free of it's past was probably inevitable.  It is surprising that it took so long, but the world of the twenty-first century is a very scary place and if Japan emerges as a military power it will certainly reshape the politics of the entire Pacific region.

Hopefully, this will not be a case of history repeating itself !