YMMV / Debt of Honor

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • At the end of the book, a jetliner gets used as a kamikaze. This book was released 7 years before 9/11.
  • To people reading in 2023, Russia and the US celebrating denuclearization is painfully ironic in light of the Trump administration pulling out of the INF Treaty, Russia following soon after, and Russian officials repeatedly making (sometimes) unhinged nuclear threats following the invasion of Ukraine (specifically when the Russian invasion forces blundered against both the Ukrainian army and resistance forces).
  • Japanese ultranationalists taking power and plunging their nation into military misadventures also hits uncomfortably close to home for 2020s readers given the desire of then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, an outspoken right-winger, to revise Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and its restrictions on a de jure Japanese military.
  • The book predicted Japan using its growing economic powers to stage a military takeover of other nations — shortly before the actual Japanese economy tanked in the "lost decade."
• Narm: At least twice, characters express joy at having been noticed by Yamata. To a Japanophile reader, it cuts a bit close to the "notice me senpai" meme.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The book plays upon the Japan Takes Over the World fear that was prevalent among Americans during the 1980s. However by 1994, Japan already entered an era of economic stagnation. While today Japan still maintain its existence as a major economic power and a developed country, it is no longer seen as a potential superpower capable of challenging the USA.