Japan prepares for war, poised to be military superpower

[Ifreann]

Ok well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s technically true.

PM Fumio Kishida has decided on a defense spending hike of nearly 60% (16 trillion yen or $125 billion dollars) to Japan’s 2023-2027 budget, bringing Japan’s annual spending well over that of Russia. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party seeks to double the budget of the Self-Defense Forces within the next decade in response to mounting belligerence from Russia and China. 51% support the measure, and 42% all oppose it, according to a Japanese pollster.

Article 9 of the post-war constitution prohibits the use of war to settle international disputes, and prevents the existence of an offensive military. The LDP has previously advocated for the abolition of the article, and critics allege the new military plan - which would expand missile strike capabilities and bolster deterrence - is an unconstitutional violation of Japanese non-aggression. China has called the move a dangerous escalation and a threat to international peace, and Russia recently deployed missile defense systems to the disputed Kuril Islands.

So, NSG, thoughts? Is Japan justified in its military buildup? Is the region at risk, and why?

Personally, I believe America and its allies must be prepared against emerging totalitarian empires. Even if it jeopardizes the principle of pacifism, rebuilding the Japanese military is important for deterring a major war and curbing unprovoked aggression from the enemies of democracy.

Japan has no business spiking their military budget when they know they don't even have the manpower nor the resources to field such a larger army. That shit could be used for something else.

Making anime real.

[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]

Who can blame them? Russia, China, and North Korea are their neighbors.

Seeing how Russia is doing in Ukraine, Japan would be more concerned with China and North Korea and rightly so.

[Farnhamia]

Let’s nuke em a third time

and a 4th....and a 5th and a 6th....screw it use all the world's nukes on japan, see what kind of genres it makes

You two are both *** warned for trolling *** (because agreeing with a trollish post is also trolling)

[Alcala-Cordel]

Japan would technically have to ignore/revise it's constitution and violate a treaty if it were to go to war. I'm not saying they wouldn't, but it would draw a lot of international scrutiny.

Japan's government might be awful, but I doubt they'll go to war if not attacked.

[Informed Consent]

You mean that if I buy an AR-15, I am not obligated to engage in a mass shooting?
Good to know.

If this was supposed to be a "gotcha" it's a rather piss-poor attempt since the AR-15's association with mass shootings is erroneous. The majority of mass shootings involve handguns, and even for the ones that don't the AR-15 still doesn't stand out statistically.

It was sarcasm.
Preparing to defend =/= intending to attack.

[The shadow corporation]

If this was supposed to be a "gotcha" it's a rather piss-poor attempt since the AR-15's association with mass shootings is erroneous. The majority of mass shootings involve handguns, and even for the ones that don't the AR-15 still doesn't stand out statistically.

It was sarcasm.
Preparing to defend =/= intending to attack.

like they say, if you want peace, prepare for war

[Drongonia]

A few familiar faces malding at the idea of Japan trying to defend itself against what is primarily Chinese neocolonialism.

This is a great move, and long overdue. Compassion and kindness shouldn't be able to be misconstrued as weakness. The JSDF should be ready to defend Japan if and when required, I just wish more nations would wake up and start to realise the threat that the new era of colonialism is causing them. Australia seems to be one of the only ones who gets it (although their response has been sloppy).

[Port Caverton]

Finally, they're remilitarizing the country. It's shame that it took so long for it to happen.

[Technoscience Leftwing]

On average, every 50 years under capitalism, an economic crisis occurs - large developed countries seek to export goods and invest abroad, but the whole world is already divided and saturated with goods, and then the redistribution of world markets and zones of influence begins with the help of world war. The war is preceded by militarization in all countries, and the coming to power of militarists and ultrapatriots. In the society of each of the countries, there are hopes of gaining greatness by elbowing all foreign competitors with their elbows. Often this is accompanied by religious and patriotic messianism. In the course of wars, however, hardships increase and the masses become disillusioned with the old ideals and institutions. This happens regularly, cyclically (socio-economic cycles, "Kondratieff waves" in the economy). And now the world is approaching this tragic phase of the cycle.

[Trollgaard]

This is old news, they have been preparing for this for a while. Some of their 'helicopter carriers' are already, or will be converted to smaller aircraft carriers. Not sure if they will be for VTOL only, or what.


Overall, this is great news. Japan, South Korea, Australia, the US, and hopefully India, the India is playing the middle, should hopefully be enough to deter China from doing anything too crazy.

[TheKeyToJoy]

Oh well Russia it gonna get its butt handed again.

[Shermania]

If they're not piloting giant robots, I don't care.

[Ethel mermania]

They need to hurry their monster research. When Xi or Kim come a calling

ACTIVATE GODZILLA!!!

[El Lazaro]

I find the title misleading, as Japan is not preparing for war, just increasing military sending.

They are in the sense that they’re they’re trying to be able to fight one, not that they’re thinking about starting one (which is mostly what I meant when I said technically).

Prepared for what? Selling them weapons?

Yes, do you have a better idea? Hand-to-hand combat, perhaps?

They need to hurry their monster research. When Xi or Kim come a calling

ACTIVATE GODZILLA!!!

The Godzilla soundtracks contain perhaps the last remaining Japanese military marches which aren’t associated with the IJA. If worst comes to worst, at least doosmday’s score will be written by Akira Ifukube.

[Vistulange]

Ok well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s technically true.

PM Fumio Kishida has decided on a defense spending hike of nearly 60% (16 trillion yen or $125 billion dollars) to Japan’s 2023-2027 budget, bringing Japan’s annual spending well over that of Russia. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party seeks to double the budget of the Self-Defense Forces within the next decade in response to mounting belligerence from Russia and China. 51% support the measure, and 42% all oppose it, according to a Japanese pollster.

Article 9 of the post-war constitution prohibits the use of war to settle international disputes, and prevents the existence of an offensive military. The LDP has previously advocated for the abolition of the article, and critics allege the new military plan - which would expand missile strike capabilities and bolster deterrence - is an unconstitutional violation of Japanese non-aggression. China has called the move a dangerous escalation and a threat to international peace, and Russia recently deployed missile defense systems to the disputed Kuril Islands.

So, NSG, thoughts? Is Japan justified in its military buildup? Is the region at risk, and why?

Personally, I believe America and its allies must be prepared against emerging totalitarian empires. Even if it jeopardizes the principle of pacifism, rebuilding the Japanese military is important for deterring a major war and curbing unprovoked aggression from the enemies of democracy.

Sources are always good to have. Anyway.

Two debates here: "Is it good that Japan is doing this", and "is this a violation of the Japanese laws and/or international treaties it is party to". Domestic law is not my field of expertise and I have no clue how Japanese constitutional law works. Presumably, they'd go about it by amending the relevant article(s) of domestic laws, and renegotiate the relevant treaties (and it's not really too far-fetched, since treaties get renegotiated all the time).

Looking over the text of the 1951 Security Treaty—it's not too long—the introduction pretty explicitly states that Japan will gradually assume responsibility over its self defence over time, and indirectly states that this (the right to self-defence) is indeed a right countries have under the Charter of the United Nations. All in all, the security treaty is not the problem here, it seems, rather, it is the Japanese basic law, and specifically, that pesky Article 9 we all know about.

I'm not too convinced that that's as big as an issue as it is made out to be on news media, and especially not in NSG. Japan has already—enabled by circumstance—circumvented that article in all but name: the Japanese military is one of the best financed and capable forces out there as it is. It turns out that even if you spend 1% of GDP on defence (take a look at the World Bank data), if said GDP is so large as Japan's, that ends up being a lot of money no matter how you look at it. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has Japan ranking 9th in military expenditures for 2021 at $54 billion. Relative to the behemoths that are the US ($801 billion) and China ($293 billion), that's pretty small, but it's still a very high number in absolute terms.

All of that to say that just increasing the budget itself is probably fine. After all, what precisely would the barrier between 1% of GDP and 2% of GDP be? One does not magically imply that the forces maintained will strictly be for self-defence purposes, while the other implies offence. Note that I'm not even saying "home defence" and contrasting it with "overseas": the Japanese military already embarks on overseas operations as it is, albeit under peacekeeping operations and usually providing support roles. Nonetheless, it's still something, and Japanese servicemen aren't isolated to Japan.

In sum, it's probably fine and perfectly manageable, politically speaking. Are they justified, though?

I mean, yes? Russia just invaded a sovereign state, pretty explicitly seeking to annex land from it. China makes absolutely no secret of its territorial ambitions against Taiwan, and it's not too far-fetched to think that Japan has a vested interest in keeping Taiwan secure, along with the United States. A more capable—not necessarily bigger—military allows facilitate that. The idea of pacifism is all good, up until you have the PLA at your doorstep. I don't have much faith in the Russians being able to do more than launch a rusting missile in Japan's general direction, but jokes aside, I'm fairly certain that's also a factor.

So, uh, yeah. It's a dangerous neighbourhood, like pretty much all the world (unless you're the US), so the whole pacifism thing doesn't make too much sense. If folks don't like it, they can thank Putin's invasion and China's unbridled ambitions for that.

[Worldly Philosophers]

Japan has no business spiking their military budget when they know they don't even have the manpower nor the resources to field such a larger army. That shit could be used for something else.

Making anime real.

They're taking it one genre at a time

Starting with Gundams

[Celritannia]

I find the title misleading, as Japan is not preparing for war, just increasing military sending.

They are in the sense that they’re they’re trying to be able to fight one, not that they’re thinking about starting one (which is mostly what I meant when I said technically).

That's still not preparing for war. Its building up defence.

[Ariele]

guess who's back, back again
Nihon´s back, tell a friend

[Ifreann]

Prepared for what? Selling them weapons?

Yes, do you have a better idea? Hand-to-hand combat, perhaps?

"them" here referring to "emerging totalitarian empires". Did you somehow get the impression that the US and its allies take issue with the existence of totalitarian empires? Do you imagine Japan joining a coalition to overthrow the Saudi government?

[El Lazaro]

Yes, do you have a better idea? Hand-to-hand combat, perhaps?

"them" here referring to "emerging totalitarian empires". Did you somehow get the impression that the US and its allies take issue with the existence of totalitarian empires? Do you imagine Japan joining a coalition to overthrow the Saudi government?

Of course not, the Saudis aren’t planning on invading any states near Japan. Do you have any serious questions?

[Ifreann]

"them" here referring to "emerging totalitarian empires". Did you somehow get the impression that the US and its allies take issue with the existence of totalitarian empires? Do you imagine Japan joining a coalition to overthrow the Saudi government?

Of course not, the Saudis aren’t planning on invading any states near Japan. Do you have any serious questions?

This is a serious question. The framing of Japan's up-cannoning as preparedness to oppose totalitarian regimes is patently false. There is clearly no intention towards spreading of liberal democracy or defending freedom or any other such thing. These are non-factors.

[El Lazaro]

Of course not, the Saudis aren’t planning on invading any states near Japan. Do you have any serious questions?

This is a serious question. The framing of Japan's up-cannoning as preparedness to oppose totalitarian regimes is patently false. There is clearly no intention towards spreading of liberal democracy or defending freedom or any other such thing. These are non-factors.

Ah, clearly Japan wants Chinese imperialism because they haven’t invaded random countries halfway across the globe.

[Nora Xent]

This is a serious question. The framing of Japan's up-cannoning as preparedness to oppose totalitarian regimes is patently false. There is clearly no intention towards spreading of liberal democracy or defending freedom or any other such thing. These are non-factors.

Ah, clearly Japan wants Chinese imperialism because they haven’t invaded random countries halfway across the globe.

Japan tried to do imperialism once, millions of people died and the imperial military did horrific shit, let's NOT do that again.

[Ifreann]

This is a serious question. The framing of Japan's up-cannoning as preparedness to oppose totalitarian regimes is patently false. There is clearly no intention towards spreading of liberal democracy or defending freedom or any other such thing. These are non-factors.

Ah, clearly Japan wants Chinese imperialism because they haven’t invaded random countries halfway across the globe.

I'm sure they wouldn't mind selling weapons to China if China weren't in the way of their own imperial aims.

[El Lazaro]

Ah, clearly Japan wants Chinese imperialism because they haven’t invaded random countries halfway across the globe.

I'm sure they wouldn't mind selling weapons to China if China weren't in the way of their own imperial aims.

Go ahead and imagine whatever absurd fantasies you want, but don’t pretend they have any relevance to policy.