[johnnyanmac]

>Japan First" doesn't have to mean your naïve interpretation of some maximally xenophobic isolationism.

It doesn't. But it probably will, especially with Japan's history. How many times does history have to repeat before we stop dismissing it as a slippery slope?

>many also believe that the US alliance and the bases are critical to Japan's greater sovereignty and prosperity.

America stripped their standing army for decades, so that damage is inflicted by the very ones that claim to protect them. And the US isn't exactly a reliable ally as of late.