The Rising Sun?

Shinzo Abe has become the new Japanese Prime Minister, a nationalist who wants to re-write Japan's pacifist constitution and take a more active role in international affairs.

I think this is a really crucial and vital development in today's era of international lethargy and catharsis. Japan is the world's second biggest economy, a vibrant democracy and pro-American. The parts of the world which still have a faint grasp on reality need bolstering against the appeasers, dictators, Islamists and Islamist apologists. Japan has to start taking up its international responsibilites incumbent on it's status as a highly developed democracy. I think it's time it starts contributing combat troops to international forces such as the force in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, the U.N. mission in southern Lebanon and many other trouble spots. When so many Western nations are just ignoring their responsibilities in this arena because of the cost, financial, political and human (i.e. dead soldiers), and their plain gutlesness, Japan can be a vital ally for those countries not willing to see Iran become a nuclear power, or let Sudan butcher hundreds of thousands of its own citizens and other such issues which the degenerate, spineless Europeans seem all to ready to accept. What's more, the U.K. and U.S. need to get Japan on the U.N. Security Council as a permanent member to counter the influence of France, Russia and China.

"TOKYO - Japan's new nationalist prime minister Shinzo Abe pledged to repair tattered relations with China, bolster his country's long-standing alliance with the United States and overhaul the pacifist constitution after cruising to an easy victory Tuesday in a parliamentary vote.
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Abe's roadmap takes Japan down a path toward a more robust military and more assertive foreign policy, delineating a fresh direction for a leader who, at 52, is Japan's youngest premier and its first born after World War II".