As Japan grapples with a “nuclear emergency situation” a domestic debate has begun about whether a quake -prone country should rely on nuclear power.

The tsunami triggered by the quake swamped Sendai’s coast, picking up cars, ships and houses as it furiously surged three miles inland.

Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto is walking a tight rope with plunging popularity and growing demands for his resignation.

Gates has steered Japan and South Korea towards aligning their shared threat perceptions about North Korea and China.

North Korea’s offer of a dialogue is unlikely to elicit a positive response from South Korea which instead is militarily drawing closer to Japan to enhance deterrence.

The conflict over rare earths is not only a consequence of the monopoly amassed by China but is also reflective of the current flux in global power hierarchies.

Kan’s statement about sending the SDF to the Korean peninsula to rescue Japanese citizens and people of Japanese origin in the event of an emergency has raised the spectre of a possible revival of Japanese militarism.

Japan’s adoption of a new defence Guidelines to secure its southern “outlaying islands” closer to China suggests major shift in Japan’s Cold War security policy.

Japan needs to structurally transform domestic demand by focusing on its service sector – medical services, education, environment, and health.

The DPJ has relaxed its earlier rigid position and is no longer demanding that India join the NPT as a pre-condition for the nuclear pact.