From David C. Benson, Strategy Bridge: “When faced with a rising power, states essentially have two options: balancing (resisting the rising power), and bandwagoning (accepting the rising power, or even helping it). Balancing comes in two forms: internal and external. Internal balancing means strengthening oneself in order to pursue or resist deterrence or coercion. In other words, one builds one’s own military or government capacity. By building internal capacity, one hopes to be able to either deter other states from doing something, or resist their attempts to coerce you into doing something. In this case we are concerned with deterring Russian intervention.”
The Foundation of U.S. Presence in East Asia
From Stratfor: “The United States' partnership with Japan is a legacy of Washington's efforts to contain the spread of communism in Asia during the Cold War. Since then, Japan has hosted U.S. troops on its soil, and today, roughly 54,000 American military personnel are stationed on the Japanese islands. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement for Tokyo and Washington, at once strengthening Japan's self-defense capabilities and enabling the United States to project its military power, and particularly its unrivaled maritime prowess, in the region . . . ”