My next door Neighbor had all her skin removed from her back and replaced with Elephant skin and she must live with it to this day because doctors say it would be life threatening to attempt the operation.
My wifes friend was one of the flying tigers that went to China to help defend against Japans invasion. My Grandfather fought against the japanese.
We have not forgotten, we know they are no longer ruled by monarchy or dictatorship thus their threat level is next to nil.
This is where i disagree -- Japan, unlike Germany, has not offer compensation or publically apologized via its Parliament or via the emperor. In Germany, the history is recorded as IS, in Japan, it is NOT. Right now, the Koreans just furious over Japan's claim on their island. One thing that Koreans have in similarity with Chinese is the treatment they got from the Japanese in WWII and if this continues, i believe Korea, North and South, will align themselves with China more and more, particularly with the Japanese issues such as permanent seat on the security council.
Is Russia a menace? Isn't it a democracy? A democracy doesn't mean you woudn't use force -- the perfect example is US :) It's a democracy and it still uses force against other countries (see Iraq, Vietnam, etc.)