I don’t want to relaunch last night’s thread on Japan, but this seems fair closing comment:

Jonah,
A thread has run through the posts re nukes and Japan that I find incredible. Starting with the unsually sound Krauthammer, everyone commenting on this issue starts from the assumption that we can tell Japan what to do, or that we somehow control what Japan can do.
Japan has the world’s 3rd largest Navy, and probably it’s second most powerful. Japan is the 2nd largest economy and arguably as advanced in most fields as the US. It is probably able to assemble nukes in weeks, and it’s probably close to the US in capability to build things like ABM’s.
Japan may act humble and deferential to the US, but I would not want us to fall into the habit of presuming on that. We need to see them as an ally fully as deserving of respect as Great Britain.