Commentary

Japan’s Defense Report Card

Scorecard Table

Japan is pursuing the most ambitious defense expansion in its postwar history—yet it faces fiscal, political, and alliance-management headwinds. The scorecard below provides TAG’s snapshot assessment of Japan’s evolving defense policy at a critical time for its bilateral relationship with the United States and Indo-Pacific regional security. We made the evaluation using three lenses, with pre-Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida Japanese security policy as the uniting reference point: Japan’s domestic defense efforts, alliance cooperation with the United States, and regional security partnerships.

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