"The Largest Western Economy"?

How big would that be, even if we were "on course" to become it any time soon?

These days, the Prime Minister of Japan pays homage at Yasukuni. Perhaps because he must. But undeniably because he can. 

Until 1922, when the Americans forced us to dismantle it under the Washington Naval Treaty, Japan had a close alliance with the United Kingdom.

But the past is the past. Regardless of any previous tie to Britain, all of the rising powers of Asia ought to be treated in exactly the same way. A thoroughly wary way.