Dignity or decline?

That Japan's dignity is now a central issue should surprise no one.  For this is a moment when Japan must chart its course - either decline or dignity - as a "state" (kokka) in relation to its giant neighbour, China.

The issue of relations with China crystallised in September, when the Japanese Coast Guard arrested the captain of a Chinese trawler after his ship hit two Japanese patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands, which are part of Japan and within its territorial waters.  Tension between Japan and China - which claims the islands - immediately soared.