Expert Explains: How a 'new' Japan promises to transform Asian geopolitics

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's address to the United States Congress earlier this month, and the developments from his summit meeting with President Joe Biden, announced the arrival of a new, assertive Japan to the world. Japan is changing — and why this matters. What is the change that Japan is undergoing? After World War II, a defeated and chastened Japan adopted a policy of pacifism — it avoided building significant armed capability, limited its defence expenditure, and refused to participate in military conflicts anywhere. This pacifism was rooted in Japan's determination to expiate its militarism and imperialism in the…