Japan announced on Friday that it would release a Chinese fishing boat captain whose detention earlier this month had thrown the two countries into a bitter diplomatic standoff. The episode is sure to push Japan into even closer alliance with the United States, said Jeff Kingston of Temple University, Japan Campus. Already this year, Japanese worries about Chinese power were said to be part of the reason its officials allowed an American military base to stay open at Okinawa. "Reacting the way China did, which was essentially issuing threats … seemed way out of proportion to the problem," Kingston said in a phone interview.