[MMM]

In turn, China also needs Japan, as it does the US. We have set up a system of a Mexican stand-off, so to speak.

People seem to be very quick to brush aside Japan's political and economic standing in the region simply because China has had such a burst in recent years. However at 10% the population of China, Japan still has a higher GDP.

Average family incomes are 6 times higher in Japan than they are in China.

China is riding on the world's propensity (especially right now) to buy cheap goods made with cheap labor, but what happens when the Chinese people decide they don't want to be cheap labor anymore, and want to get paid more?

Japan is riding on the world's propensity to by high quality goods at fair prices. The so-called "Lost Decade" that made everyone think Japan was sinking faster than the Titanic was essentially 10 years of a plateau after several decades of going straight up.

Whether or not Japan (again) apologizes for atrocities in WWII doesn't really matter when the economical stake is so much greater. If China was really upset with Japan they wouldn't sell goods to them. Economics always trumps politics when there is money to be made.