While people say Japan is now a US ally, I point out that Japan has no military and is dependant on the US for it’s defense.
Even without a military I don’t trust them and never will.
I know a young gal who spent seven years in Japan teaching English.
Her take on Japan is that it was a closed society for too long and that it still has the closed society mentality at the upper, governing, levels.
You must look again. Japan has a bigger and more powerful navy than the Brits do today. And does anyone doubt they could create Toyota quality nukes in a few months? It’s child’s play.
The JSDF could easily take apart most of our NATO allies.