Former Japanese general Toshio Tamogami has a dream: fed up with bowing to China and the United States, patriotic politicians form a new party that puts national interests first, bolsters the military and rewrites the pacifist constitution.

"In Japan, there are pro-China politicians and there are 'conservatives', but almost all of those are pro-American and say 'let's do what America tells us to do'," said Tamogami, a former air force chief of staff who was sacked in 2008 for writing that Japan was ensnared into World War Two by the United States and was not an aggressor in the conflict in Asia.

"We need to have a political party that brings together 'pro-Japan' politicians. If we don't, Japan will simply continue to decline," said Tamogami, who for the past two years has headed the nationalist group "Ganbare Nippon" ("Stand Firm, Japan").

Tamogami's dream of an influential new nationalist party appears a mostly forlorn hope for now, analysts said, but right-wing groups of that ilk are already pushing mainstream parties to the right.

Hoping to grab public attention, Tamogami's group will sponsor a trip next month by parliamentarians, local lawmakers and others to waters near a chain of islets in the East China Sea at the heart of a worsening feud between China and Japan.