Another Person Who Doesn't Understand Shinzo Abe

Japan has taken a fateful step toward becoming a “normal” power by adoptingthe doctrine of “collective self-defense”, paving the way for Tokyo to play a more direct role in ensuring stability in international waters as well as in aiding allies in times of crisis. It took a combination of iron-willed leadership, under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and deepening territorial disputes with China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea to force Japan to take greater responsibility for its own national defense.

Iron-willed leadership?  It's obvious that author has no clear understanding of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the policies they wish to enact.  Changing the Japanese constitution specifically Article 9 has been a long term goal of the ultra-conservative wing of the LDP  since the 1990's. Abe's first term as Prime Minister ended because his one and only policy goal was to force that change. Japanese public opinion quickly turned against Abe and he was forced to resign.

As expected, China has been perturbed by the resurgence of its archrival, Japan. And the Xi Jinping administration has spared no efforts to denigrate its counterparts in Tokyo. Aware of lingering regional anxieties over Japan’s early-twentieth century imperial aggression, especially in South Korea, Beijing hassought to convince the world that Japan is purportedly reassuming its militaristic past. Any sober analysis, however, would suggest that the real bone of contention is an emerging Chinese-Japanese contest for regional leadership, as Washington gets more comfortable with playing the role of an offshore balancer. Gradually, bitter territorial disputes have seemingly rekindled a century-old rivalry for the soul of Asia.

While most of Asia has moved beyond Japan's imperial past China and the Communist party continues to use that fear of imperial Japan for domestic consumption to create a nationalistic furor amongst the population.

The tumultuous memories of World War II continue to cast a long shadow on Japanese society. But as any astute political leader, Abe has instead opted for reinterpreting existing provisions of the Japanese constitution, striking a tenuous balance between Tokyo’s evolving security calculus, on the one hand, and the pacifist spirit of Japan’s constitution, which prohibits the country from using coercive means to settle international disputes, on the other.

 An astute political leader? Who are you kidding. He's not astute at anything, He's a racist, ultra nationalist, war crimes denier and a historical revisionist.  Unfortunately the Japanese public is ready to sail down that river again so Abe will force the changes through no matter what the people want.