Contemporary international relations show a clear increase in the manifestations and relevance of nationalism as an ideology, political practice, and tool for consolidating society. “Globalization of nationalism” becomes a result of the change order, the erosion of international institutions to revise a role of state in world politics and economy, accelerating political, economic and social processes. In East Asia, the strengthening of nationalism is taking place in the context of a change of leader and the struggle for political and economic dominance between China and Japan (in alliance with the USA). With the loss of Japan's economic position, its political weight in the region is lost, and therefore there is a need to maintain its competitiveness. Under these conditions, nationalism becomes a popular resource in the political elite's hands, a means of internal propaganda, and in the most cases it works to shift attention from the country's socio-economic problems to support of electorate in making decisions in foreign and defense policy. In this context, it comes to the fore issues of historical memory between Japan and its East Asian neighbors, themes, related to the activities of Japanese militarists and their colonial policy in the region. On this background, there is a clash of interests and a struggle for the “correct” history interpretation, which is being happened on both sides: both at the academic and intellectual, and at the political levels. Based on a retrospective analysis, the author concludes that historical revisionism is becoming an important ideological tool of Japan's political elite from among the nationalists and conservatives, and the policy of nationalism is a means to achieve the “normal country” status, aimed at getting rid of the “losing nation” syndrome and self-restrictions, imposed in the post-war period.