LOS ANGELES -- The Japanese are trying to sell their Asian neighbors a plan to rearm militarily -- and become more like a "normal" nation and less like a thoroughly defeated World War II aggressor. In their view, this shouldn't make anyone nervous.
It's not going to be an easy sell.
In fact, just about the only nation already sold on the idea is the United States, which under the Bush administration has been urging Tokyo to counter China's military rise. But regional respect for Washington's foreign policy judgment is not at an all-time high. What's more, the irony is lost on no one: It was the U.S. that after World War II imposed on Japan its peace Constitution with its famous Article 9. This restricted Japan's military options to only having so-called self-defense forces stationed within Japanese territorial waters.