Not really. Our newest, and soon to escort our AC, SSBN can equip more advance SLBMs and can cruise faster than France latest Barracuda-class SSBN. Our latest SSBN 095 will rival the US's Virginia class and the thing is we are advancing rapidly and newer, improved model of SSBN will come out in 2020s.
Honestly, I don't understand this idea of Japan as some technologically superior country that can build anything. Are we forgetting they can't build a good 4th gen aircraft themselves and required the US's help, in F2 program, a copy of F-15? Are we forgetting that Japan, this highly technological country, cannot put a manned flight in space and need Russian help to transfer their astronauts to space? Are we forgetting that Japan doesn't have the fastest supercomputer in the world? Are we forgetting they have never been to the Moon in any shape and fashion? Japan is a country that is very good at supplying high-tech material in the commercial realm but in advance technology that require state-of-art cooperation, research, and development, they have never accomplish anything that make you go "WOW"? Are you watching too much Gundam and believe the useless Japanese humanoid robot represents the artificial intelligence level of the Japanese tech industry? Are we forgetting that these robots are so useless they can't fix the Fukishima nuclear reactor? Let be honest and sit back here for a second and ask ourselves why Japan had never done anything remarkable in human achievement.
No I don't believe Japan can rival the US if they are bigger. You simply do not understand how a big country manage population and vast empire. China is a big population, 4x bigger then the US. If we have smaller population, it would be much easier to modernize.
i never said Japan is superior militarily to China or Russia. Of Japan doesnt have SSBN that can rival what China or Russia have. Militarily Japan is still an occupied country , hence its military is heavily dependent on the U.S . so of course China is way ahead of japan militarily speaking.But i meant in commercial technology Japan is still a world beater. Its still very advance technologically,be it in nuclear tech(not withstanding the fukushima issue) its still has one of the leading companies in nuclear tech(it even owns wetinghouse which is building some of chinas new nuclear reactors), its car industry is world class, same with its electronics and machinery industry, fashion industry as well. etc.
What im trying to point out is that Japan is still a very advance country economically speaking, and when i first visited Japan, i was suprise to see that Japan is one of the most conservative country in the world, they are not very welcoming to foreigners/very closed society, no matter how many years you have lived there, you will never be considered as part of them)(even for a westerner like me, its even worst for other Asian people who they still regard as kind of inferior to them). This one thing i was surprised to see, since my image of democratic Japan was quite different, i expected it to be more so in communist authoritarian China than Japan. however i was surprised to see that China is even more open/accomodating than Japan to foreigners(though both country still lack well behind the west on this issue), same with other southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia, it was more open in these countries than Japan. i dont know the reason for this, but just seems to me that Japanese people are very nationalistic/conservative(which i dont think is a bad thing), as you will hardly find any western brand that totally dominates the market there, unlike in other Asian countries where its the norm to see western product dominating every life aspects.
So im just pointing out that you shouldnt underestimate Japan, they are still a little behind in developing cutting edge military weapons just because they are still an occupied country, and cant do anything without it being sanctioned by their patron U.S. An since the U.S wont like to see a very strong/indpendent Japan, there are things/projects it wont allow Japan to develop. Funny enough, In some ways U.S presence In Japan is beneficial to China. So yes we will have to wait for a long time when Japan is less/free from the U.S for it to able to develop offensive weapons. Though that will be a very long wait. since the U.S is in Asia to stay.