Myself, I haven't really noticed that during my visits, but then again I haven't been really on the university circles recently. At least the young Japanese I know, couldn't care less about nationalism.
 
I guess Japanese continue to be naturally proud of their (wonderful!) homeland - as every other nations are. Would this kind of nationalism fluctuate as economy goes up and down? I don't know. It seems natural that Prime Minister of Japan visits the grave of soldiers perished in war long time ago. Is this nationalism? I don't think so. It's simple daily life and tasks.
 
It seems to me that Japanese simply peacefully want to build new cool things for their homeland without bragging so much. Sure, people are afraid of North Korea and Chinese student things have been difficult to digest. Without a question this has caused the gap between these nations to broaden. Japanese seem to fear silently. The culture is very different in this sense, when comparing to US for example. People in US need to express their fears and talk about it in media. Sadly this can be easily used to manipulate people. However, in Japan people don't behave like this, it seems. Take Zen for example. It suggests to love and accept even the unknown, little scary things.  
 
Then again I don't have any friends from Japanese self defence force. It would be very interesting to pick average low rank officer and ask what he thinks about this. Self-defence forces or armies have been always the typical incubators for patriots. This sure is the case in Finland. If you want to find stubborn people like that, you can find them easily from the army.
 
However, Japan is busy place to live, and there are earthquakes, media scandals, stockmarkets, university entrance exams, tax reports, a lot of things to worry about. It seems typical Tokyoists won't bother their minds too much about some theoretical debate about something that happened sixty years ago. Either won't young people in Osaka, Hiroshima or Nagasaki.  
 
Certainly Japan is homogenous country and people have a hidden reserve of emotions against foreigners in general - I have experienced this as a foreigner too. It takes time to get into close touch with Japanese. But is this biased attitude against foreigners? I have to say I dont think so. Then again, I'm not Korean. It might be entirely different case, and I'm sure it is.
 
I only wish people could use adult conversation as for communication, rather than passionate nationalism that leads nowhere except bitter emotions from people. Wouldn't it be great if people would just accept the past as it is?
 
In Japan these is saying "everybody is medium", which I interpret something like "everyone is good enough as they are".
 
I want to add a small story of a Chinese friend of mine. He used to have Japanese girlfriend few summers back. During the soccer match, he invited his Chinese friends to the house, no harm intended. His friends were kind to his girlfriend. After they had few beers and match became more exciting - conversation turned soon anti-Japan oriented. His girlfriend had to leave the house because the atmosphere became too negative.  
 
This is the reality we live. I think we are all just imperfect human beings. When we learn to notice the similarities within each other - we can build more solid relationships that aren't plagued by problems like these. We should see ourselves in others. That's what's called love.  But it takes courage to love, doesn't it?

Yes, things change and fluctuate over the time always.
But what is nationalism afterall?

Let's not forget that one man's patriotism is another man's nationalism. Just as one man's martyr/freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.
 
We're trading in words here on the forum so let's be careful which ones we use.

I read somewhere recently something good, something along the lines of...
 
Patriotism is taking pride in your country. Nationalism is looking for enemies outside your country.
 
Unfortunately a lot of the effort to build some sort of patriotism in Japan - as Hachiro says, Japanese people are lacking in this area - is being too readily labeled nationalism.
 
Then again, should you do this by forcing people to stand for the national anthem or feeding them a sanitized version of their chequered past? Isn't it better to focus on the many centuries of wonderful culture and tradition Japan has produced, face the past squarely and admit that the country was totally misguided for a period of time, but not forget to acknowledge the example that the postwar, anti-war constitution has set for the world and the remarkable economic recovery that the current young generation's fathers and grandfathers built.
 
Show young Japanese people how much they and their country have to offer the world, make them proud of that and they'll want to stand for the national anthem!
 
But at the same time, don't be afraid to tell them the truth about those who would bring shame on the country, those who (ab)use the flag or the name of the emperor for their own right-wing purposes, so that they can distinguish for themselves the true difference between patriotism and nationalism.
 
The key is education, enlightened and honest education.

As an Italian I always considered Japan a lot patriotic but not nationalistic.
I mean patriotism is the love for your country, nationalism is the feeling that makes you think that the best country is yours.  
I'm patriotic because I like Italy, but I'm not so arrogant to think that is the best place on earth or that we are the best in everything.
Our cousin the french instead are a bit more nationalist and normally think that french things are better than the others...
I think that japanese are patriotic, because they are very proud of things made in their own country, but have the intelligence to appreciate good things, and culture from other countries.
I mean that a lot of japanese people like western way of life, but they are not silly surrogate of europeans. They remain japanese, because they can change some exteriority but inside they remain a strong culture.
So I don't think that nationalism is rising in Japan. A revaluation of patriotism is not bad if the target is elevate the sense of brotherhood between the citizens. The problem can occur when it became worshipping of the nation...
 
However when a dictatorial neighbor with nuclear warheads starts to get excited it's normal to appeal to the national cohesion to face the threat

Quote from Hachiro on 07/25/06 at 19:39:43:

 
Still not, but I've always appreciated japanese culture, expecially the countryside quiet way of living, because it seems so close to mine in childhood (I came from a small mountain village in northern Italy).
But you know, you must know directly something if you want to really understand it.
 
Sooner or later when work will allow it, I'll came to Japan to check it out!
 

I dont' think this is the right place to talk about United States, since it would occupy too much space in the forum
 
However people from US are not an unique ethnical group, without considering the WASP, (white anglo-saxon people) that we can consider the original american caming from the british islands, other groups have maintained a strong cultural link with original countries. Like cuban, mexican, puertorican, italians, chinese etc. etc.
All those people are grateful to America for letting them realize their dreams. But they always love their original inheritage.  
I often talk to italians of the 3rd or 4th generation in US. But you can see something in their eyes when they takl of Italy, also if they are born in the us and have only italian names.
In this case you cannot say that they are nationalist, because there is something outsiude the country that they love.  
Nationalism is typical of country with a common ethnical background with very few difference.
You can find nationalism in some European country like Germany (also if they still pay nazism inheritage for this), Serbia, France.
In other country that have cultural differences, you'll find patriotism but a low level of nationalism, like in Spain, UK, Switzerland, and also Italy.
 
Now let's talk about Japan again!!!