Japan militarizing for first time since WWII

Oh yes, this is a topic about politics. Lets do this! For anybody who doesn't know, Japan recently got rid of their self-imposed pacifism in response to what they perceive as a growing Chinsese threat. Tensions have been rising between Japan and China for years, and now the stakes are getting higher. Obama supports Japan's decision to get rid of their policy of pacifism because he thinks they will help more in the middle east, but I don't think Obama understands the true case here. The Japanese have always wanted the islands near china, especially the one they are arguing about today. If Japan decides to take the island by force, China might very well go to war. Now combine this with what Putin is doing in Europe, piece together the old Soviet Union, unhindered because the west doesn't want another war. When we combine those two with the absolute chaos in the middle east, the risk of another global war pandemic, WWIII, might be on the horizon. I know, this has been said before in 2012, but never have so many countries been readying up for conflict since WWII. What do you guys think?

First off, I love japan. second off there has been talk of ww3 being near for a long time now (I know stuff before the general public thanks to how much military is in my life). Personally I love the idea, it kinda scares me that I might not get to experience war like my father, grandfather, ect. Hell I'm okay with opening up a can of democracy (whoopass) on they asses. I know for a fact how strong US guys are and honestly only Russia has good training, China is just a bunch of experienced guys with cash.

I don't think Japan would go to another war to be honest. A misconception about the previous wars was that the Japanese people supported the war when the fact is that a lot of them are against it & was just supporting their family members who got drafted/forced into participating. Oh, I think Haru will love this topic. She's into politics XD!

Abe is losing his friggin mind is what this all is. Half your entire country is against this, you have entire cities on lock down with radioactive food on the market from the nuclear disaster, and in a time of high tensions in the east you're just adding fuel to the fire with South Korea and China.

Yeah but even claiming that it's trying to protect itself against China isn't a great idea because there's still sever limitations to the constitution since they're only reinterpreting it instead of actually adding a referendum. And while Japan's people are protesting and lighting themselves on fire against this move by the Abe government, China and South Korea are now in talks

What exactly should the Japanese government do? Wait until it's too late? Should they wait until Type-99 tanks and J-11 Flankers are in the skies before mobilizing? I think the world knows Japan wouldn't stand a chance against China if the two powers went at it seriously. Japan doesn't need to win, though. It just needs to give China a bloody lip in the initial skirmish, then the fight's over and we go back to status quo. It's hard to give that bloody lip when one side has nearly 1000 fighter planes and the other side has about half that. Right now China's air force is largely outdated aircraft bootlegged from the Soviet Union in the 60s, so a that's around 600 so outdated aircraft. And that would be fine. 600 MiG-21 bootlegs vs 200 and change F-15s would be a pretty good fight. The problem is that China has another 400 planes which are more modern, like the J-10 and J-11. Those might actually give the F-15 some trouble. Now what happens when those 600 outdated planes are replaced with 600 more modern planes? That's where the problem lies. 200 F-15s aren't going to give 1000 J-10s and J-11s a bloody lip. If we're lucky, a skirmish between Japan and China would be a few days worth of air battle. Thereby negating any real land combat, which is where things would really get bloody. Really, China just needs to bide its time for about a century. Japan's going to kill itself by way of under population. The saber rattling on China's side, resulting in saber rattling on Japan's side, is just unnecessary provocation. But as long as China's doing it, Japan's got every right and every reason to respond in kind.

Ultimately it doesn't matter. I think Abe's government is doing a pretty good job at getting themselves ousted in the next go around. Actions like the militarization and the handling (or lack of) of Tepco disaster is all incredibly unpopular with the Japanese people. Besides, it's not like Japan is a poor victim in the rising tensions in the East. They're all poking at each other, waiting for someone to snap. Honestly, at times like this, I really think it is a shame that Japan decided to renegade on the deal regarding the islands. That would have created at least one common positive relationship between two and perhaps tensions wouldn't be as high as they are now.

Traditionally, nations acquire land by either buying it or conquering it. For all practical purposes, China can do either and it's doing neither. Japan didn't help by dicking up the whole agreement they were working toward, and China didn't help by escalating things with their identification zone. Japan's not doing itself any favors culturally because it's an environment that isn't encouraging child birth. I wonder if the US would have given the islands to China had they not gone Commie on us.

I think if it comes to war, China isn't going to make the first move on Japan because they know the U.S. is going to come to their aid. I mean, we are arguably on better diplomatic terms with Japan than we are with Britain. Our ties with China on the other hand are getting more and more strained each year. First we find out that they have been deceiving the U.S. to make more cash, then there are all these behind closed doors talk with Russia, our main rival. Like with what xueli said, everybody is just waiting for someone else to pull the trigger. Japan's decision to militarize is like putting air into a balloon that is going to eventually pop. I can totally understand their decision to militarize. As it is, they are completely unprepared if China decides it wants a little bit more birthday cake like Russia is getting. Hitler didn't think about expansion until he saw Mussolini expanding over in Africa. Putin may very well set off a chain of events we have yet to see. If the situation continues to get worse the U.S. and Japan may have to go to war with a Russia-China-North Korea alliance. It's a scary thought.