In an interview with The Washington Post in November, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the U.S.-Japan alliance “the cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy,” a stance supported by the U.S. State Department, whose website asserts, “Japan contributes irreplaceable political, financial and moral support to U.S.-Japan diplomatic efforts.” However, such official comments on Tokyo-Washington ties are misleading, believes Sayo Saruta, the director of Japanese think tank New Diplomacy Initiative.

The United States, Japan, and South Korea signed a military pact that will lead to the three countries sharing intelligence and other sensitive information on North Korea’s progress toward a nuclear missile as well as the state of the country’s general military preparedness.

While Japanese cool hunters might lament the lack of pop cultural exports in recent years — all the more conspicuous when compared to K-Pop’s successful forays westward — kawaii (cute) culture has quietly permeated into global consciousness with all the effortless grace of singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu farting out a rainbow.

Whether or not the Philippine arbitration claim prevails in court, China is unlikely to prevail in the court of international public opinion on this issue. 

President Barack Obama declared Friday that Sony “made a mistake” in shelving a satirical film about a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader, and he pledged the U.S. would respond “in a place and manner and time that we choose” to the hacking attack on Sony that led to the withdrawal. The FBI blamed the hack on the North’s communist government.

With Abe now entrenched as Japan’s most powerful leader in years, having comfortably secured another term through last weekend’s snap election, Japan’s diplomatic spats over its past misdeeds, especially when it involves South Korea, may well get worse before it gets any better. And if relations do deteriorate further, we are likely to see more American commentators urging Japan to show greater remorse for wartime actions vis-à-vis its neighbor.

Now ramen noodles are the latest target of government efforts to take advantage of this spreading interest in Japan’s pop culture and food around the world, and its growth potential.

Reassurance is needed. Hopes that China’s spectacular climb to superpower status might be completed without conflict have been dented in recent years. Its assertive approach to old but until recently largely quiescent territorial disputes with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and India has jangled nerves.