The rise of China as an economic power is fueling emergent nationalism in Japan. "It's about the huge shift of power from Japan toward China over the last 15 years," said Jeff Kingston of Temple University, Japan Campus. "It's about who gets to call the shots in Asia — the U.S. or China, and China is saying it wants a bigger say and the key issue is for the U.S. to decide if it wants to cede more space to them — and history is not littered with good examples of that."