What Genesis probably meant was this is a Vietnamese syndrome, since nobody in ASEAN other than the Viets here talk about acquiring nukes.
Pen pal you should avoid getting infected with it, even though it's only some hypothesis Japan isn't gonna develop nukes. US pressured France not to deliver a reprocessing facility to South Korea in 1975 as a result the South Koreans ended the program. Now what makes you think the US will allow Japan to develop WMD under the disguise of the China threat? Surely you haven't forgotten who nuked your country, plus the North Korean threat isn't justifiable enough for US to even consider allowing Japan to develop nukes. As long Japan remember the lessons of WW2 and remain a pacifist Japan is safe, plus the Americans have you guys under its claws