Advertisement On October 4, Japan’s Defense Minister Kihara Minoru announced that Tokyo will acquire hundreds of U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles as early as fiscal year 2025, moving up the original schedule by one year. The announcement came after the new defense minister talked with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, in a 55-minute meeting at the … Read more
Advertisement On August 31, the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo asked for 7.74 trillion yen ($53 billion) for fiscal year 2024, its largest ever budget request, as Japan faces the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II. The request, a whopping 13.4 percent increase from the initial budget in … Read more
Advertisement Japan no longer needs U.S. pressure to undertake a radical expansion in its defense capabilities and security commitments. Rising threat levels in Japan’s regional environment, particularly from China, have become the most important factor driving change in these areas of government policy, as well as changing public attitudes toward dramatically increasing defense capabilities and … Read more
Advertisement In December 2022, Japan announced a new National Security Strategy, including a significant increase of the defense budget and the acquisition of offensive weaponry. While the decision has been praised among the hawks of U.S. and transatlantic foreign policymaking, it is stirring up old ghosts of Japanese militarism in East Asia. At the same … Read more
A concept model of Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ new Surface-to-Ship Missile on display at the KHI booth at DSEI Japan 2023 in March. Credit: Takahashi Kosuke Advertisement On June 6, Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that it has signed four contracts worth about 314.7 billion yen ($2.3 billion) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries … Read more