personal view: the thing with japan is that after ww2 they got heavily disarmed ,they focused only on defensive military . Now ,after the Ukraine war and the problems they face with China(and north Korea) they decide to increase the military budget ,just like everybody else “if my neighbor is buying a gun ,shouldn’t I also have one ?” Everybody says that we are at the start of the second cold war ,I tend to belive it .
You can’t blame Japan for wanting to D up while China keeps acting belligerently
Fighting a sovereign state decisions about its own military, something a dictator would do
If they want to escape the US military they will need their own military.
On one hand, the upcoming arms race is concerning. On the other hand, Japan IS a part of “Russia is occupying our land” club.