Tom Plate writes at Asia Media:

Sure, we can blame Japan for everything that's basically wrong in Asia, if that's the game we want to play. Who is going to stop us?

But is this what we really want to do? Demonize the Japanese at virtually every turn? 
Please reconsider because this wouldn't be right nor would it be smart.

Take the bilious controversy over the decision of the current Japanese government to elevate its Defense Ministry to Cabinet-level status. Such cabinet ranking is normal for any country. But when Japan aims for the normal, it tends to trigger a storm of anguish from people who are convinced that Japan is hopelessly guided by devious intentions that should always be suspect.

This is wrong thinking. Consider Tokyo's talk about loosening Constitutional inhibitions on how Japan can deploy its armed forces. Again, you would think we were on the edge of world war. In fact, such a revision would simply be consistent with Japan's contributions to the U.S. war against Iraq. However ill-conceived the latter, the former effort was entirely well-intentioned -- basically, just one friend making a very public point of helping out another.

To read more:

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/columns.asp?parentid=66389