This paper uses the ”offensive realism” and ”alliance theory” approaches to analyze Japan's policy toward China under the administration of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and examine how Japan has struck a diplomatic balance between the ideal policy and international reality. This paper first traces the transformation of the DPJ's China policy. It then shows that there are huge differences between the ”Asia diplomacy” practiced by the Noda cabinet and the ”fraternity diplomacy,” practiced by the Hatoyama cabinet. The foreign policy of Prime Minister Noda has followed the track established previously by the the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Today, Japan remains a Cold War ”buckcatcher” for the U.S.. Though this does not signal the reemergence of a Cold War ”containment” policy, it does reveal that there are value differences between the U.S. and China as revealed by the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP). This transforms ”international institution” constructions (assumed to be neoliberalism) into ”offensive realism.”