As a country that had spent most of its history separated from the rest of the world whether by geography or choice, Japan faced a big change when it had to start dealing with other countries. Distrust and misunderstanding of the unknown is natural to most people, and unfortunately in Japan’s case that mistrust and misunderstanding turned into the Pacific theater of World War II. During World War II Japan attempted to take over most of the other countries in its area, and temporarily succeeded. Obviously, Japan lost World War II and the countries they had invaded were returned to power (more or less). The residual effect of their brutal takeovers is that most of Japan’s neighbors dislike Japan (or outright hate it, depending on the country).
Sources (other than memory…)
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2124.html
While Japan’s neighbors may be willing to trade with it and interact economically there are still a lot of hard feelings against Japan. This isn’t particularly helped by the fact that Japan has a habit of acting in ways which appear unapologetic(or are, depending on who one asks). And as the other nations in the area have been catching up to and even surpassing Japan in terms of world power it no longer has the leisure to feign deafness to their complaints. It now has no choice but to face its detractors on even footing.
