1127 Japan

Most Americans don’t know much about other countries but they know Japan, even some of it’s history & culture. For whatever reason, Japan has been world-leading is several areas; most famously its products. This is doubly amazing since Japan’s economy has been flat for decades, and its population is aging and in steep decline. Other countries would allow immigrants from developing nations to fill the labor gap but Japan is too xenophobic so they’re developing robot-replacement workers instead even though it's much more expensive at first. However, with robots there's none of social problems immigrants bring. Japan will probably even allow genetic manipulation and AIs. Japan does have the specter of an all powerful China looming on their doorstep, a country that resents their past humiliating abuse at the hands of Japan. The immediate threat is China’s attempt to annex the South China Sea which is of paramount importance to Japan. China must be very wary of going too far and actually inciting a forceful response from Japan because who knows what futuristic things & beings they’ll be up against?