Why treaty limits looked like second-tier status to Japan

This passage reconstructs the Japanese perception of American pressure without endorsing it. Japanese leaders could read demands over China as an attempt to clear the way for American influence in a region they considered their own sphere. Naval treaty ratios then gave numerical form to the grievance: Britain and the United States accepted parity while Japan received a smaller allowance. American pressure to end the Anglo-Japanese Alliance added to the impression of exclusion, even though Britain hoped to preserve useful ties informally. Together these choices made rejoining the international system look, from Tokyo, like accepting permanent second-tier status.