American F-35Bs will operate from Japan's carrier. This will help work out problems before Japan has its first F-35Bs.
Japan doesn't have F-35Bs yet. But by the time they do, the Japanese navy will be ready to operate them:
Izumo will operate the Marine Corps F-35B fighters for an undisclosed amount of time (it will not be a full-fledged deployment), while Japan waits for its own fleet of F-35Bs to arrive sometime in the next five years.
Japan finds it must not rule out more weapons in the face of China's rising power and rising threats.
Where does that pattern lead to if China doesn't pull back? For a long time, Japan didn't want nukes because it is the only target of nukes (in World War II). But how difficult would it be for Japan to pivot to the idea that it is the country that is best able to responsibly own nukes because it was the only target of nuclear weapons?
UPDATE: China woke up a sleeping giant.
