Outside the country (and to the chagrin of ultranationalists), Akihito made a point of recognising Japanese wartime aggression with a remorse that was more authentic than Abe’s pro forma apologies. Plus, robots do not pay taxes or pension contributions. Distinguishing his first stint from his second is “Abenomics”, a powerful economic salvo that was to jolt the Japanese economy back to life. His two-year stint at Oxford University resulted in a book on waterways bracingly titled The Thames and I. In the country once known for lifetime employment, 40 per cent of the labour force now works on temporary contracts. The eight-year war represented the vindication of state insecurity that, radicalized by an increasingly belligerent Japanese regime in the 1930s, changed the contours of the East Asian order overall. After two decades of passivity and withdrawal from great power struggles in Asia, Japan is preparing to resume a more active —and independent —role in international affairs. Failure of the moderates to deliver: The conventional methods of prayers, petitions and public meetings of the moderates had failed, and by 1908 political extremism had … Initially, the government attempted to end the malaise through deregulation, particularly of the labour market. Japan's response to the effect of the Great Depression and foreign opposition to Japan's growing empire was the inauguration of the Showa Restoration which meant 'Bright Harmony'. Ships of the 1st Fleet, their guns trained on the parliament building, anchored offshore. At the very basic level the Second Sino-Japanese War represents the triumph of Japanese militarism and ultra-nationalism. Two naval officers, an army cadet, a student and a teacher from the agricultural Native Land-Loving School put the finishing touches on plans to terrorize the civilian government and force the country under martial law; thereupon, the army could take over in the name of the emperor. Compared to its European counterparts, Japan’s imperial family is at once more unassuming and more withdrawn from the people it represents. What caused the rise of fascist and totalitarian governments in Germany and Japan? The threat from right-wing terrorism in the United States—and Europe—appears to be rising. Its prime minister at the time, Yoshida Shigeru, gave his name to the system under which Japan would hand over responsibility for its defence and foreign policy to the Americans, while focusing its efforts on economic growth, which it did with remarkable success – in the space of a decade, Japan’s GDP doubled. With the civilian government frightened, and in any case limited in power, it looked as if only the emperor could rein in the freewheeling extremists. But these are side stories to Abe’s main agenda, which is to “normalise Japan” – shorthand for comprehensively revising the constitution and creating a standing army. The poverty of viable options at election time has meant that nearly half the population no longer bothers to cast a vote. Each faction collected just over 10 per cent of available seats, against the LDP’s 60 per cent. It took the prime minister nine months to die. Of particular concern are white supremacists and anti-government extremists, such as militia groups and so-called sovereign citizens interested in plotting attacks against government, racial, religious, and political targets in the United States. They have worked for years to ensure that the Japanese forces are “interoperable” with US counterparts. His actions were so unexpected that even the most mundane gestures – squatting to talk to an old woman sitting on the floor of an evacuation centre – grabbed headlines. It now stands at an eyewatering 250 per cent of GDP.