What's your take on japan building it's military might?

"I do not have a problem with Japan rebuilding their military. We cannot hold them responsible for their previous mistakes forever."

I do.

The Japanese don't even admit that WW2 was a mistake. They see themselves as the injured party ground down by superior force and the victim of a "war crime" (the A-bombs). Germany at least was Denazified, worked out its probation, and was judged fit to rejoin the human race.

The Japanese were never "denazified" to the same extent. The British and Commonwealth War Crimes Commission was only just getting into its stride in 1947, when that arrogant fool and prize idiot McArthur ordered America's ALLIES to cease and desist from pursuing Japanese war criminals. Were it not for that, a lot more Japanese war criminals would have been brought to justice and swung for their crimes against humanity. Too many of them got away. Even today, Japan will not apologise nor pay compensation to those Allied service personnel who were worked to death in its concentration camps. When you look into modern Japan, the schoolbooks their children learn from do not tell the story of murder and ill-treatment that was systematically carried out by Japanese troops against civilians and captured allied troops. If the Germans sawthemselves as the Master Race in Europe, the Japanese certainly saw themselves as a higher form of creation in Asia, Samurai Nazis.

This is still apparent today in the way Koreans in Japan are still treated as second-class citizens - both Korean states have good reason to mistrust their former colonial overlord.

In allowing this country to re-arm, are we setting up a rod to beat ourselves with, another forty or fifty years down the line?

Don't forget - they have NEVER APOLOGISED for the suffering they inflicted in WW2. Are they capable of doing it again? It took two world wars to disabuse the Germans of the notion they were meant to rule the world. The peace with Japan in 1945 has all the unsatisfactory compromise qualities of the Versailles Treaty in 1919, which made it absolutely certain the Germans would come back for another go...

I speak as a grandson/great-nephew of Britain's Fourteenth Army - of both those who fought and those who died in Japan's death camps.

I'm all for it.

The Japanese Defense Force is highly professional, well-trained, and within the limits of their self-imposed restrictions, extremely well-equipped. Even without expansion, the JDF naval forces would be more than a match for NK naval units. The JDF air forces are more than a match for NK. Only in the area of a standing army would Japan fall short of NK.

Never mind North Korea, it is past time for Japan to adopt a regional stance, to come out of isolation.

Since the end of World War II Japan has been prohibited from having a large scale military.

It's not good or bad, it's out of necessity. We have control of the military bases in japan, and we are an Allies. Japan has no alternative but to be ready for what ever North Korea is going to do.

Japan's military is growing fast, especially their navy. more and more ocean going warships are being build. their main duty is to intercept incoming communist missiles. luckily for Japan they are an island nation, no land border to defend. no problem to worry about, actually we must be happy that a friendly nation is capable of defending herself. Japan has changed greatly compared in the past. they are no longer the Orient Tyrant they used to be. North Korea is not so strong nation in regards to their equipment. their weapons are from cold war era, easily destroyed by modern systems. it's not capable of invading a nation due to lack of sea or air lift. the only fear is it's nuclear arsenal. but what's great is that these missiles are not that good in navigating, can be easily intercepted by modern surface-air missile before it reaches land targets. i just hope it will not be launched against nations without air defense capability experience and modern systems.

I do not have a problem with Japan rebuilding their military. We cannot hold them responsible for their previous mistakes forever. Also they need to be able to defend themselves in the 21st century because we basically cannot defend them. World War 2 was more than 60 years ago so get over it

Well since the league of nations was broken by Adolf Hitler there is no point on of being worry about them building up their military. But our problem is with our new president. He wants to down size our military and that could screw us over. But we as a nation should fight for it and try to build it up!

Surprised it didn't happen sooner, i also happen to think it's a good road to go down because it's one more stepping stone for China to deal with if they intend to do something stupid.

obama has made huge mistakes and we all might die becasue of it.

sending hillary to talk to foreign leaders was one of them they think she is pathetic excuse for a woman becasue of the clinton affair and they look down on her. Obama as a senator had a warning from the UN for interfering in affairs he was not qualified or cleared for and now as president his arrogance and ignorance exceeds the last president by far and it is opening our enemies eye that we are extremely vulnerable becasue he doesnt know what he is doing.

we are screwed.

US blacks will never get to bang Asian prostitutes again if Japan don't need the US military