I wouldn’t exactly write off Japan as a military power. What they have may be small, but it is of high quality. I took a (civilian) ferry from Hiroshima to Matsuyama. It made a stop in Kure, which I thought was nothing other than a once great World War II era shipyard and naval base. There were modern Aegis class destroyers flying the Japanese naval flag as far as the eye could see. I counted 22 of them during our brief stop.
I have had the same experience of happening through a harbor town and seeing the Japanese Navy (pardon me, that should read the Japanese Marine Self-Defense Force) filling the harbor. It was an eyeopener.
I was aware theoretically of the Japanese capabilities, but the reality reminded me that we are talking about a navy that went from basically nothing to the overwhelming victory at Tsushima in a generation, and was able to slug it out with us not that many years later. I cannot think of any other country going from nothing to a major naval power in such a short period of time.