It is not about the small island. The reactions of Taiwan and PRC are predictable. Using those reactions, it is just a vehicle for Japan to have an excuse to militarise again - which is what they really want. Based on Japan's willingness and preparedness to take on PRC if it comes to an all out fight, it implies Japan have had nuclear weapons for a long time already. Maybe that's why Japan refused American help to go into and put out the Fukushima nuclear reactor fire.
FIRST of all ...... Japan has a population that is aging and most are Ah Peks and Ah Ma .... it does not have the manpower to form an offensive force (which is why the US is such an important military ally)
The population in Japan will keep falling by about 1mil each year for about the next 50 years. This means that Japan is likely to end up with a population of only 87 million by 2060...... OF WHICH more than 40% of the population will be over 65 years old.
The Japan Self Defence force lacks any offensive abilities like aircraft carriers, long-range S2S missiles, ICBMs, long-range bombers and large stores of ordnance and other ammunition. The Rules of Engagement for the JSDF are strictly defined by the Self-Defence Forces Act 1954
Our imagination that Japan is STILL a military power could be because we are watching too much Japanese action cartoons on TV where Ultraman and 100,000s of soldiers , jets and bombs and lazer canons fight Godzilla , Pokemon and Hello Kitty
Look at the ingredients and reasons why Imperial Japan expanded beyond its shores during the early 1900s . You have to be worried that these ingredients might brew something similar for China to do the same thing too ..... this is just normal human nature for the desperate/starving/strong/nothing-to-lose to get aggressive ..... nothing to do with any country's culture, race or religion
Possible Ingredients :
1. Recession/Depression
2. Devastated Economy and widespread poverty
3. Exhausted/Fast-exhausting natural resources
4. Too relient on foreign sources of energy and raw materials (first reason for annexation or colonialism of a foreign territory)
5. HUGE and young home population and high home unemployment
6. Social Anarchy