Japan’s “defensive” military is surprisingly strong, due to the WW2 surrender they aren’t allowed to have a large military so they’ve had to keep it modernized and I’d pity any country foolish enough to attack them. It’d be like attacking Israel, it’s not necessarily how large the stick is that matters, it’s what it’s made of that counts.
You can have 10 guys wailing on someone with wiffleball bats but when that guy pulls out an aluminum bat, fight’s over.