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.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

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

[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:

[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).