You people.
You stick up for Japan for the same reason people voted for Obama - guilt. We smoked them, alright? Get over it. They are a corrupt declining nation that risks pulling our men and women into a death match. F888 the japs - again!
That is true nonsense. Japan and Taiwan are the forward edge of the US maritime security system in the Westpac. The Chicoms are and increasingly will be what Imperial Japan was in the 1930’s, expansionist, xenophobic, and militaristic, intent upon controlling the ‘East Asia Oceanic Resources Zone’ and expelling the US from the Asian littoral. Japanese naval forces are large (2nd or 3rd largest navy in the world depending on how the tonnage is counted, and extremely competent and professional. They used the GWOT as as opportunity to do long duration deployments in the Indian Ocean where they developed the capacity to operate far from home waters for long periods of time. Neutralizing japan or detaching the the US and Japanese militaries would only serve the interest of the emerging hegemon of Peking.