Is the US military industrial complex making China the new USSR?

So we are in a "pivot toward Asia?" Well, not to China, but to Japan. Walter Russell Mead reports,

While most of the United States media class is distracted by the spectacle of feckless politicians squabbling away in Washington, real news is happening halfway around the world. Japan and the US have signed a landmark agreement that includes provisions for a new missile defense system in Japan, stations American surveillance drones at Japanese air bases, and provides for coordination on cyber threats.

As much as we may dislike John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, we should still pay attention to what they are doing.

What about South Korea? Spandrell points out that the South Koreans are not big fans of the Japanese.

The increasing anti-Japanese climate in Korea had also the double benefit of serving to create much goodwill in China, which has become the biggest trading partner of Korea, the biggest receptor of Korean students, and an indispensable industrial partner for Korean industry. The slightest displeasure by China against South Korea could make the Korean economy collapse in weeks. And Koreans know it: more than half of students of Chinese in the world are from South Korea.

Even if you ignore the historical details, it’s only natural that South Korea becomes a Chinese satellite. That’s what it’s been for 2000 years. It is also no surprise that China and Japan are enemies. Japan has a trade surplus with China, the Japanese avoid Chinese products like the plague, and Chinese students who go to Japan seldom come back. There is little benefit for China in being friends with Japan, and much in being enemies. And enemies they are.

But there is another aspect to this story. Spandrell writes,

Kerry and Hagel made a flower offering at the memorial to the unnamed soldier in Chidorigafuchi. Now this is big news for several reasons. First of all no one has ever gone to Chidorigafuchi in decades. It’s a small, inconspicuous place inside the Imperial palace. It was only built in 1959, and the government has given it little attention.

And that’s because Japan already has an official place to pray for the war dead. And that’s Yasukuni shrine. Built in 1869, year of the Restoration, with the explicit purpose of being the holy shrine where those who died for the new regime, i.e. Meiji Japan are enshrined. The Japanese government today considers itself to be the continuation of the Meiji system, e.g. the count of prime ministers starts from 1890, when the Meiji constitution was sanctioned. And thus, all the dead of the many wars that Japan fought since 1868 are enshrined in Yasukuni. And yes, that includes the war dead in WW2. And that includes all of them, i.e. the bad guys too. That evil, evil Tojo guy included.

So now we feel we can tell the Japanese where to pray for their dead?