I’m not sure I get that impression from the Japanese I know. Maybe the older generation feel that way?
But I also know quite a few Japanese people in their early thirties, some of them very very very to the right of the political spectrum. Even to them Imperial Japan is sheer terror. Young kids being forced to commit suicide (kamikaze), endless suffering of the population, a crazy mentality, worshiping the emperor as a god, horrific experiments in the Chinese countryside, etc. My sample might be small, but I don't think there's much nostalgia of Imperial Japan anywhere in the Japanese population.
[1] Extra points if you can't even recognize Abe doing giving an interview on TV. And yes, that one has never missed an election. That's the most terrifying part to me. If you want to opt out of caring about politics, it's completely fine by me, but at least do it completely...
You have this idea that the Japanese military will become a runaway juggernaut subjugating Japan under its will, and this is simply ridiculous. No signs point to it.
I could almost accuse you of fear mongering
Also, your accusation that most Japanese are "very uneducated when it comes to politics/history" is anecdotal and incomplete at best, comically reductive at worst. Do you even read Japanese? Do you not see the amount of considered, deep analysis and discussion on TV and in the newspapers? Do you not see the huge numbers of books on history in the bookshops?
In any case, it is ridiculous to claim that "most" (or even some) Japanese people live in fear of the SDF. You'd be laughed out of the room for claiming that in front of anyone with even a passing knowledge of Japan.