It is disturbing because China did not hesitate to kill 10000 of their own people in 1989 on a shoestring budget, and faced no consequence. Who knows what they would do to Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc.
I rather think domination via trade, investment, manufacturing and economical means is more plausible because thats what they're doing right now and they have more resources and capabilities to do more.
As well, its never good to fight a land war in Asia, korea, afghanistan, vietnam, cambodia and others has demonstrated that, as from a military perspective, you would be losing lives trying to police an area where locals have a more-than-significant population advantage over you.
Modern military tactics are no longer invade via land forces with air as support but rather spread fake news via social media and watch for signs of weakness in cyber structures.
Okay, that's at least two countries that killed 10000+ of their own people since WW2.
Sorry for the whataboutism but I think how each country is perceived when spending money on military is worth discussing.
Also, if Japan was Asia raping in WW2, China is China-raping now.
That being said; between the two, China today is more like Japan during WWII than Japan today is.
The PM and his party (the LDP) in coalition with the Komeito party have been trying to push that for years, without success. Mostly because the Japanese people don't seem to support it.
And to be fair, revising Article 9 and not going on a romp through the Middle East is also an option. I can see the rationale for doing so, besides right-wing nationalism on Japan's part.
That's definitely a possibility, however removing Article 9 is seen as a threat by China and might be a tactical error. Japan hasn't had any trouble building the defense force. If anything having Article 9 in place is plausible deniability for hostilities against China.