Japan's Nervous Neighbors

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, when atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki drove Japan to accept defeat in history's bloodiest conflict. Japan has focused on peaceful economic development over the intervening six decades, and can take much of the credit for Asia's 20th century boom. But recent debate over issues such as Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, or reforms to its pacifist constitution to allow a standing army, has made some of its neighbors uneasy.

In a TIME/CNN poll conducted by market-research firm TNS in 12 nations across Asia last month, more that half of those who replied said they were sanguine about the prospect of an increasingly powerful Japan, with more than 60% of respondents in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam approving of its growing clout. But in South Korea and Hong Kong—places that still bear grudges over Japan's harsh wartime occupation—a majority of those polled were worried. Asians were also less than enthusiastic about Japan's ambition to become a permanent member of the Security Council; only 49% felt it deserves a coveted seat.

But Japan isn't the only rising power in the region. About half of the respondents felt China's economic miracle is good for their respective countries, but in places that have had recent strife with Beijing, deep wells of skepticism persist. In Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, most people considered China's increasing influence threatening.

With such unease over two of Asia's growing powers, it's perhaps not surprising that two-thirds of respondents to the TIME/CNN poll said the U.S.'s role as a regional peacekeeper remains important. That role, of course, was itself a consequence of the way that World War II ended, all those years ago.