Japan PM Abe visit to, of all the places he can decide, Pearl Harbor, is confirmation that Japan is still a conquered state 75 years after it was conquered. He feels it is necessary to affirm and feed the American power ego. 

The U.S. continue to have a couple of massive military bases in Japan soil. Air base big enough to station strategic bombers. Naval bases big enough for aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons. Are they there for the defense of Japan? Of course not. Only fools don't know the purpose of these forward American military bases, half of the cost paid by Japan. 

American military will stay in Japan forever. They will stay even if the Japan government ordered them out. They will be gone only when Japan wage a war to kick them out. 

Abe is obliged to visit Pearl Harbor before Obama leaves office, in return for him visited the nuked city. It is an act only for a conquered country. 

So when will Abe visit Nanjing, site of the most horrific genocide by Imperial force?