Is the code of Bushido making a comeback?
Not as we remember it, but a cursory reading of the Japanese popular press and manga indicates a marked increase in Japanese nationalism.
The Chinese are fools. They are stoking the North Koreans and understand that Kim, while he acts as a foolish, petulant child, makes a great catspaw in their attempt to drive the Americans from the Western Pacific.
What the old men on the Politburo's Military Committee don't realize is that they are creating the condition for China's nightmare scenario: the ressurection of the Nihon Kaigun, the Imperial Japanese Navy.
When the Japanese put their mind to something, they act as one, and can become a terrible force. IN the last century, this led to a terrible miscalculation based on imperial ambitions. However, Japan was isolated and far from her Axis allies, Germany and Italy. Japanese diplomacy would be far more deft, based on an alliance with the United States.
Now imagine the United States Pacific Fleet and the IJN Combined Fleet acting as one force to maintain the freedom of the sea lanes. There is nothing the Chinese could do to counter this force. Their entire strategy to drive the Americans from the Pacific and neuter Japan would come a cropper.
A terrible prospect indeed, for the Chinese. The North Koreans are merely bit players in this larger drama.
Be Seeing You,
Chris