Japan as a Seapower: Strategy, Doctrine, and Capabilities under Three Defence Reviews, 1995–2010

Abstract

This article draws upon previously unavailable document materials to question views pointing to a degree of stagnation in Japanese maritime thinking. It similarly reviews claims about trends to compensate the decline of national military power with the build-up of projection capabilities. The article’s main argument is that Japanese seapower is not declining. The Japanese Navy is evolving to combine enhanced capabilities to retain sea control in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea with extended operational reach and flexibility, including an expeditionary component to meet alliance and diplomatic commitments in East Asia and beyond its confines.

Key Words:

• JMSDF
• Japanese Maritime Thinking
• Sea-lanes Defence Strategy
• Naval Doctrine and Operational Concepts
• Expeditionary Capabilities

Notes

¹ Shinzō Abe, ‘Message from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the Occasion of “Marine Day”’, 13 July 2013, <www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/96_abe/statement/201307/12uminohi_e.html>.

² Masashi Nishihara, ‘Maritime Japan Should Reinforce Maritime Defence Capability’, The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) – Commentary, No. 37, 17 July 2008, <www.jiia.or.jp/en_commentary/200807/17-1.html>.

³ Admiral Furushō Kōichi, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji (着任に際し訓示 – New Instructions of the Chief of Maritime Staff), Maritime Staff Office, Japan Defence Agency, 28 Jan. 2003.

⁴ Seapower is ‘that form of national strength which enables its possessor to send his armies and commerce across those stretches of sea and ocean which lie between his country or the countries of his allies, and those territories to which he needs access in war, and to prevent his enemy from doing the same’. Herbert Richmond, Statesmen and Sea Power (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1947), ix.

⁵ Yoji Koda, ‘Naval Development in Japan’, Bjørn Terjesen and Øystein Tunsjø (eds), The Rise of Naval Powers in Asia and Europe’s Decline, Oslo Files on Defence and Security No. 6 (Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies 2012), 54.

⁶ Shinichi Kitaoka, ‘The Strategy of the Maritime Nation Japan: From Yukichi Fukuzawa to Shigeru Yoshida’, in Williamson Murray and Tomoyuki Ishizu (eds), Conflicting Currents: Japan and The United States in the Pacific (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International 2010), 46-49; Alessio Patalano, ‘Japan’s Maritime Strategy: The Island Nation Model’, RUSI Journal 156/2 (2011), 82–9; also, A. Patalano, ‘Introduction: Maritime Strategy and National Security in Japan and Britain’, in A. Patalano (ed.), Maritime Strategy and National Security in Japan and Britain: From the First Alliance to Post-9/11 (Leiden/Boston: Brill/Global Oriental 2012), 4–8; Peter J. Woolley, Geography and Japan’s Strategic Choice (Washington DC: Potomac Books 2005); Toshi Yoshihara and James R. Holmes, ‘Japanese Maritime Thought: If not Mahan, Who?’, Naval War College Review 59/3 (2006), 24–6. On the Yoshida Doctrine, Christopher W. Hughes, Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power, Adelphi Paper No. 368–369 (Oxford: OUP for IISS, 2004), 21–31; Richard J. Samuels, Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP 2007), 29–37, 43–8, 57–9.

⁷ Kōsaka Masataka, ‘Kaiyō Kokka Nihon no Kōsō’ (海洋国家日本の構想 – The Vision of Japan as a Maritime State), Chūō Kōron 中央公論, Vol. 9 (1964), 48–80; Kōsaka Masataka, ‘Tsūshō Kokka Nippon no Unmei’ (通商国家日本の運命 – The Fate of Japan as a Trading State), Chūō Kōron 中央公論,Vol. 11 (1975), 116–40; Kōsaka Masataka, Kaiyō Kokka Nihon no Kōsō (海洋国家日本の構想 – The Vision of Japan as a Maritime State) (Tokyo: Chūo Kōronsha 1965).

⁸ Bōei Keikaku no Taikō (防衛計画の大綱), or Taikō (大綱).

⁹ Euan Graham, Japan’s Sea Lane Security, 1940–2004. A Matter of Life and Death? Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies Series (London and New York: Routledge 2006), 122–49; Peter J. Woolley, Japan’s Navy: Politics and Paradox, 1971–2000 (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 2000), 28–30, 66–70; Alessio Patalano,’ Kaiji: Imperial Tradition and Japan’s Post-war Naval Power’, Unpublished PhD Thesis, King’s College London, 2009, 193–8; James E. Auer, ‘Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force: An Appropriate Maritime Strategy?’, Naval War College Review 23 (Dec. 1971), 3–20; J.E. Auer, The Post-war Rearmament of Japanese Maritime Forces, 1945–71 (New York: Praeger 1973), 256–8.

¹⁰ Kaijōjieitai (海上自衛隊).

¹¹ Geoffrey Till, Asia’s Naval Expansion: An Arms Race in the Making? Adelphi Book, (Abingdon, UK: Routledge for IISS 2012), 66–78.

¹² James R. Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara, ‘Japan’s Post-Mahanian Maritime Strategy’, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Town and Country Resort and Convention Centre, San Diego, CA, March 2006, <http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/9/9/6/5/p99656_index.html>; Yoshihara and Holmes, ‘Japanese Maritime Thought: If not Mahan, Who?’, 32–6; the same text was republished in Yoshihara and Holmes, Asia Looks Seaward as chapter 8.

¹³ Yoshihara and Holmes, ‘Japanese Maritime Thought’, 36; Yoshihara and Holmes, Asia Looks Seaward, 158.

¹⁴ Toshi Yoshihara and James R. Holmes, ‘Japan’s Emerging Maritime Strategy: Out of Sync or Out of Reach?’, Comparative Strategy 27/1 (2008), 28. Specifically, on the ‘Cold War’ nature of the JMSDF fleet, cf. James R. Holmes, ‘Japan’s Cold War Navy’, The Naval Diplomat, 15 Oct. 2012, <http://thediplomat.com/the-naval-diplomat/2012/10/15/japans-cold-war-navy/>.

¹⁵ Yoshihara and Holmes, ‘Japanese Maritime Thought’, 36; Yoshihara and Holmes, Asia Looks Seaward, 158.

¹⁶ Toshi Yoshihara, ‘Japan’s Competitive Strategies at Sea’, in Thomas G. Mahnken (ed.), Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History, and Practice (Stanford UP 2012), 219.

¹⁷ For a summary of the impact on national policy of Japanese concerns concerning a deteriorating regional security context, see Yasushi Sukegawa, ‘A New Government at a Difficult Time: Japan’s Security Outlook’, paper presented at The NIDS International Workshop on Asia-Pacific Security, Tokyo, 17 Jan. 2013, <www.nids.go.jp/english/publication/asia_pacific/pdf/05.pdf>.

¹⁸ Tetsuo Kotani, ‘Reluctant Seapower: Geopolitics in Asia and Japan’s Maritime Strategy’, in Peter Dutton, Robert S. Ross and Øystein Tunsjø, Twenty-First Century Seapower: Cooperation and Conflict at Sea (Abingdon: Routledge 2012), 136–7.

¹⁹ Ibid., 137.

²⁰ Bōeishō (防衛省). Before January 2007, the JMoD was named Japan Defence Agency (JDA), or Bōeichō (防衛庁). In this paper, the acronym JDA is used for the period before 2007.

²¹ Naoko Sajima and Kyochi Tachikawa, Japanese Sea Power: A Maritime Nation’s Struggle for Identity, Foundations of International Thinking on Sea Power No. 2 (Canberra, AU: Sea Power Centre 2009), 93.

²² Hughes, Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power, 140–3; C.W. Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, Adelphi Paper No. 403 (Abingdon, UK: Routledge for IISS 2009), 139.

²³ Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 27–31; C.W. Hughes and Ellis S. Krauss, ‘Japan’s New Security Agenda’, Survival 49/2 (2007), 157–76.

²⁴ Christopher W. Hughes, ‘Not Quite the “Great Britain of the Far East”: Japan’s Security, The US-Japan Alliance and the “War on Terror” in East Asia’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 20/2 (2007), 334–335; C.W. Hughes, ‘“Super-Sizing” The DPRK Threat: Japan’s Evolving Military Posture and North Korea’, Asian Survey 49/2 (2009), 291–311; C.W. Hughes, ‘Japan’s Military Modernisation: A Quiet Japan-China Arms Race and Global Power Projection’, Asia-Pacific Review 16/1 (2009), 86–8; C.W. Hughes, ‘Japan’s Response to China’s Rise: Regional Engagement, Global Containment, Dangers of Collision’, International Affairs 85/4 (2009), 837–56.

²⁵ Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 140; Hughes, ‘Japan’s Military Modernisation’, 93.

²⁶ Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 140.

²⁷ Kaijōhoanchō (海上保安庁). Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 50–1; Hughes, ‘Japan’s Military Modernisation’, 95–6.

²⁸ Richard J. Samuels, ‘“New Fighting Power!” Japan’s Growing Maritime Capabilities and East Asian Security’, International Security 32/3 (2007/08), 84–112.

²⁹ In the Japanese language the word ‘taikō’ can be translated both as ‘outline’ and ‘guidelines’. For an explanation of the use of different translations in English, see Alessio Patalano, ‘Shielding the “Hot Gates”: Submarine Warfare and Japanese Naval Strategy in the Cold War and Beyond (1976–2006)’, Journal of Strategic Studies 31/6 (Dec. 2008), 862, footnote 8.

³⁰ Chakuninni Saishi Kunji (着任に際し訓示).

³¹ The author wishes to express his gratitude to Rear Admiral Ōtsuka Umio, JMSDF, for granting special access to the New Instructions presented by the Chiefs of Maritime Staff (CMS) from 1961 to 2010.

³² Tōru Kizu, Editor-in-Chief, Sekai no Kansen, interview with the author, Tokyo, 30 May 2008.

³³ Editorial Department, ‘Japan Military “Needs Marines and Drones”’, BBC News - Asia, 26 July 2013, <www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23433070>.

³⁴ Author’s interviews with senior JMoD officials, Tokyo, July and Aug. 2009; JMSDF Staff College, seminar discussion with the author, 20 Sept. 2011. Also, Hughes, Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power, 41–66; Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 27–34.

³⁵ NIDS, ‘Japan – National Defense Program Guidelines and Defense Capabilities for the 21st Century’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2005), 212–13; Hughes, Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power, 42–6; Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 27–9.

³⁶ JMSDF Staff College, seminar discussion with the author, 20 Sept. 2011; NIDS, ‘Japan – National Defense Program Guidelines and Defense Capabilities for the 21st Century’, 216–21.

³⁷ NIDS, ‘Japan – National Defense Program Guidelines and Defense Capabilities for the 21st Century’, 223–26; NIDS, ‘Japan – Security Policy under a New Government’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2010), 245–68; Hughes, Japan’s Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power, 49–65. Also, Daniel M. Kliman, Japan’s Security Strategy in the Post-9/11 World: Embracing a New Realpolitik (Westport, CO: Praeger for CSIS 2006).

³⁸ JMoD, Defense of Japan (Tokyo 2012), 111–12.

³⁹ For a definition of ‘tactical’ carriers, cf. JDA, Defense of Japan (Tokyo 2006), 93. Also, Vice Admiral Hideaki Kaneda, JMSDF (Ret.), ‘Japan’s National Maritime Doctrines and Capabilities’, in Lawrence W. Prabhakar, Joshua H. Ho, Sam Bateman (eds), The Evolving Maritime Balance of Power in the Asia-Pacific. Maritime Doctrines and Nuclear Weapons at Sea (Singapore: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies 2006), 128.

⁴⁰ Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), ‘IV. Actions in Response to an Armed Attack against Japan’, in The Guidelines for Japan US Defense Cooperation (Sept. 1997), <www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/guideline2.html>; The Council on Security and Defense and Capabilities in the New Era (CSDCNE), Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense and Capabilities in the New Era (Tokyo 2010), 13, 17–18. Also, JDA, National Defense Program Outline In and After FY 1996 (Tokyo: JDA Dec. 1996), <www.mofa.go.jp/policy/security/defense96/capability.html>; JDA, National Defense Program Guidelines, FY 2005- (Tokyo 10 Dec. 2010), 6; JMoD, National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2011 and Beyond (Tokyo 17 Dec. 2010), 7–8.

⁴¹ Advisory Group on Defense Issues, The Modality of the Security and Defense Capability of Japan (Tokyo 1994), 22.

⁴² The Council on Security and Defense Capabilities (CSDC), Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense Capabilities (Tokyo 2004), 3, 8, 10.

⁴³ CSDCNE, Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense and Capabilities in the New Era, 12.

⁴⁴ JMoD, National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2011 and Beyond, 4.

⁴⁵ NIDS, ‘Japan – Toward More Effective International Cooperation’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2006), 249–53.

⁴⁶ JDA, Defense of Japan 1996, 81.

⁴⁷ CSDC, Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense Capabilities, 11–13; JDA, Defense of Japan (Tokyo 2005), 118–19; NIDS, ‘Japan – Responding to the Changing Security Environment’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2007), 231–3.

⁴⁸ JMoD, Defense of Japan (Tokyo 2013), 115.

⁴⁹ CSDCNE, Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense and Capabilities in the New Era, 24; NIDS, ‘Japan: The Adoption of the New National Defense Program Guidelines – Toward a More Dynamic Defense Force’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2011), 243.

⁵⁰ NIDS, ‘Japan: The Adoption of the New National Defense Program Guidelines’, 256.

⁵¹ Ibid., 256–7; JDA, Defense of Japan (Tokyo 2006), 148–54; NIDS, ‘Japan – Responding to the Changing Security Environment’, 228–31.

⁵² JMoD, National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2011 and Beyond, 10; James R. Kendall, ‘Deterrence by Presence to Effective Response: Japan’s Shift Southward’, Orbis 54/4 (2010), 603–14.

⁵³ NIDS, ‘Japan: Toward the Establishment of a Dynamic Defense Force’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2012), 253–6.

⁵⁴ Editorial Department, ‘SDF Starts Unprecedented Exercise in Kyushu, Okinawa’, Asahi Shimbun – Asia & Japan Watch, 11 Nov. 2011, <http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ2011111117195>.

⁵⁵ CSDCNE, Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense and Capabilities in the New Era, 15, 30–5; also, NIDS, ‘Japan – Toward More Effective International Cooperation’, 240–6.

⁵⁶ JMoD, National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2011 and Beyond, 8–9; CSDCNE, Japan’s Visions for Future Security and Defense and Capabilities in the New Era, 18–20.

⁵⁷ Vice Admiral Makoto Yamazaki, JMSDF (Ret.), ‘Kaijōjieitai wa BMD ni Dōtori Kumu Bekika’ (海上自衛隊はBMDにどう取り組むべきか – BMD and the JMSDF in the Near Future), Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol. 9 (2003), 80–1.

⁵⁸ JDA, Defense of Japan (Tokyo 2005), 186.

⁵⁹ Captain Katsutoshi Kawano, JMSDF, ‘Japan’s Military Role: Allied Recommendations for the Twenty-First Century’, Naval War College Review 51 (Autumn 1998), 18; Rear Admiral, Kawano Katsutoshi, JMSDF, interview with the author, Tokyo, 26 June 2007; Vice Admiral Kōda Yōji, JMSDF (Ret.), interview with the author, Tokyo, 27 May 2008; Vice Admiral Takei Tomohisa, JMSDF, interview with the author, Tokyo, 12 Sept. 2012;

⁶⁰ On the development of this operational posture, Hideo Sekino, ‘Waga Kuni no Kaijō Goei Mondai’ (わが国の海上護衛問題 – Ocean Escort Problems of Japan), Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol. 8 (1973), 64–6; Hideo Sekino, ‘Japan and her Maritime Defence’, US Naval Institute Proceedings 97/5 (1971), 98–121; Akihiro Sadō, Sengo Seiji to Jieitai (戦後政治と自衛隊 – Post-war Politics and the JSDF, Tokyo: Yoshikawa Bunkan 2006), 143–62; Patalano, ‘Shielding the Hot Gates’, 868–76.

⁶¹ JDA, Defense of Japan: Response to a New Era (Tokyo: The Japan Times 1996), 84.

⁶² Kōda, interview with the author, 27 May 2008; Takei Tomohisa, interview with the author, 12 Sept. 2012; Kawano, ‘Japan’s Military Role’, 17–18; Vice Admiral Yoji Koda, JMSDF (Ret.), ‘A New Carrier Race? Strategy, Force Planning, and JS Hyuga’, Naval War College Review 64/3 (2011), 46–8.

⁶³ Rear Admiral Akimoto Kazumine, JMSDF (Ret.), interview with the author, Tokyo, 13 Jan. 2005.

⁶⁴ Captain Akimoto Kazumine, JMSDF, “Ocean Stabilisation” – A New Security Concept (Tokyo: National Institute for Defence Studies 1997). The author has a debt of gratitude with Rear Admiral Akimoto for kindly providing a copy of the original manuscript.

⁶⁵ The author has a debt of gratitude with Rear Admiral Akimoto for kindly providing a copy of the original manuscript. Takai Sususmu and Akimoto Kazumine, ‘Ocean-Peace Keeping and New Roles for Maritime Force’, NIDS Security Reports 1 (2000), 58.

⁶⁶ Ibid., 63.

⁶⁷ Professor Takai Susumu, interview with the author, Tokyo, 18 March 2005. Also, Takai and Akimoto, ‘Ocean-Peace Keeping and New Roles for Maritime Force’, 59.

⁶⁸ Akimoto, ‘Ocean Stabilisation’.

⁶⁹ NIDS, ‘Maritime Security Cooperation in Asia – Ocean Governance and Ocean-Peace Keeping’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2004), 51. Also, NIDS, ‘Maritime Security in East Asia and Nonproliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction’, East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times 2005), 11–32.

⁷⁰ Shigeru Ishiba, ‘Regional Perspectives on Asia-Pacific Security: Japan’, speech delivered at the IISS Asia Security Conference, Singapore, 30 May 2003; Shigeru Ishiba, ‘Japan’, speech delivered at the IISS Asia Security Conference, Singapore, 5 June 2004. The author is grateful to Ms Catherine Micklethwaite and Mr James Howarth for their assistance in retrieving the original transcripts.

⁷¹ Rear Admiral Tomohisa Takei, JMSDF, ‘Kaiyō Shinkindai ni okeru Kaijōjieitai’ (海洋新近代における海上自衛隊 – The JMSDF in the New Maritime Era), Hatō 波涛, Vol. 11 (2008), 2–29.

⁷² Ibid., 6.

⁷³ Ibid., 8, 11–12.

⁷⁴ Ibid., 15–16.

⁷⁵ JMSDF Staff College, seminar discussion with the author, 20 Sept. 2011.

⁷⁶ Takei, ‘Kaiyō Shinkindai ni okeru Kaijōjieitai’, 19. On the strategic importance of Okinawa in a Northeast Asian crisis, Narushige Michishita, ‘Changing Military Strategies and the Future of the US Marine Presence in Asia’, in Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG), Rebalance to Asia, Refocus on Okinawa (Naha City: OPG 2013), 70–76. The author is grateful to Prof. Michishita for providing a copy of this study.

⁷⁷ Tatakawazushite Katsu (戦わずして勝つ). Takei, ‘Kaiyō Shinkindai ni okeru Kaijōjieitai’, 17.

⁷⁸ Ibid., 18.

⁷⁹ Ibid., 20–1.

⁸⁰ Ibid. 22.

⁸¹ Takei, interview with the author, 12 Sept. 2012.

⁸² Ibid. Also, Takei, ‘Kaiyō Shinkindai ni okeru Kaijōjieitai’, 23–4, 26.

⁸³ Takei, ‘Kaiyō Shinkindai ni okeru Kaijōjieitai’, 24.

⁸⁴ For a definition of doctrine, Geoffrey Till, Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century, 2nd ed. (Abingdon, UK: Routledge 2009), 46; The Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC), Joint Doctrine Publication 0-10: British Maritime Doctrine (Arncott, Bicester: DSDA Operations Centre, UK Ministry of Defence 2011), 63–4; Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC), Naval Doctrine Publication 1: Naval Warfare (United States Navy March 2010), iii–v.

⁸⁵ JMoD, Defence of Japan (Tokyo 2013), 151–4.

⁸⁶ Hughes, Japan’s Remilitarisation, 35–7.

⁸⁷ Higher-level doctrine serves to establish material, human and spiritual priorities, to provide service members with a sense of common purpose and an understanding of the role of the organisation in national defence, and to motivate them to fight and defeat an enemy. Till, Seapower, 46; NWDC, Naval Warfare, iv; DCDC, British Maritime Doctrine, v.

⁸⁸ Rear Admiral Kawano Katsutoshi (now Admiral and Chief of Maritime Staff – CMS), JMSDF, interview with the author, Tokyo, 26 June 2007. Until recently, similar practices were in use in the British and American navies too. See Eric Grove, ‘The Discovery of Doctrine: British Naval Thinking at the Close of the Twentieth Century’, in Geoffrey Till (ed.), The Development of British Naval Thinking: Essays in Memory of Brian Ranft (Abingdon, UK: Routledge 2006), 182; John B. Hattendorf (ed.), US Naval Strategy in the 1990s: Selected Documents, Newport Paper 27(Newport, RI: Naval War College Press 2006), 3.

⁸⁹ For example, enhancing inter-service cooperation and understanding was a primary aim in the Royal Navy’s 1995 The Fundamentals of British Maritime Doctrine (BR1806) and one of the two aims of the current doctrine. Grove, ‘The Discovery of Doctrine’, 189; DCDC, British Maritime Doctrine, v.

⁹⁰ Chiyuki Aoi, ‘Beyond “Activism-lite”? Issues in Japanese Participation in Peace Operations’, Journal of International Peacekeeping 113/1-2 (2009), 72–100; C. Aoi, ‘Japan and Stability Contributions and Preparedness’, RUSI Journal 156/1 (2011), 52–7; C. Aoi, ‘Punching Below its Weight: Japan’s Post-war Expeditionary Missions’, in Alessio Patalano (ed.), Maritime Strategy and National Security in Japan and Britain: From the First Alliance to Post-9/11 (Leiden, Boston, MA: Brill/Global Oriental 2012), 132–58. Also, Garren Mulloy, ‘Japan Self-Defense Forces’ Overseas Dispatch Operations in the 1990s: Effective International Actors?’, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Newcastle Univ., 2011.

⁹¹ NIDS, ‘Japan – Responding to the Changing Security Environment’, 228–33.

⁹² Patalano, ‘Shielding the Hot Gates’, 868–70; dm. Ryōhei Ōga, JMSDF (Ret.), ‘Kaijōjieitai to Watashi’ (海上自衛隊と私 – My Experience with the JMSDF), Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol. 1 (1999), 176–7; JMSDF, Kaijōjieitai Gojū Nenshi (海上自衛隊五十年史 – JMSDF’s Fifty Year History) (Tokyo 2003), 137–46.

⁹³ JMSDF, Kaijōjieitai Gojū Nenshi, 245. Senior Captain, JMSDF, interview with the author, Kanoya, 25 Aug. 2005.

⁹⁴ Lieutenant Commander, Italian Navy, interview with the author, Venice, 16 Oct. 2006.

⁹⁵ Vice Admiral Kōda Yōji, JMSDF, interview with the author, 5 July 2007; author’s conversations with senior staff officers including former CMS Admiral Furushō Kōichi, JMSDF (Ret.), Rear Admiral Kawano (now Admiral and CMS), Captain Ike Tarō, Yamashita Kazuki, and Ōtsuka Umio, Tokyo, May, June and Sept. 2005.

⁹⁶ Patalano, Kaiji, 207–13.

⁹⁷ Peter J. Woolley, Japan’s Navy: Politics and Paradox, 1971–2000 (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 2000), 24.

⁹⁸ Captain Yamashita Kazuki, JMSDF, interview with the author, Tokyo, 19 Aug. 2007.

⁹⁹ Yoji Koda, ‘Naval Development in Japan’, 53. From 1952 to 1989, all Chiefs of Staff started their career in the ranks of the imperial navy. Admiral Sakuma Makoto was the first graduate of the National Defence Academy to rise to the direction of the JMSDF.

¹⁰⁰ Seikyō (精強 - literally translated as ‘powerful’, ‘very strong’). In the context of the operational concepts, the idea of ‘fighting power’ as employed in the British Maritime Doctrine seems to offer a more appropriate translation. The idea of strength and power inherent in the word ‘seikyō’ refers to the ‘ability to fight and achieve success in operations’. DCDC, British Maritime Doctrine, 60.

¹⁰¹ Sokuou (即応).

¹⁰² Admiral Uchida Katsuomi, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji (着任に際し訓示 – New Instructions of the Chief of Maritime Staff), Maritime Staff Office, Japan Defence Agency, 1 July 1969.

¹⁰³ Shōsū seiei shugi (少数精鋭主義).

¹⁰⁴ On the imperial navy’s personnel management system, David C. Evans and Mark R. Peattie, Kaigun. Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press 1997), 401–3. Throughout the JMSDF’s history, the officer corps represented no more than the 20 per cent of the entire personnel strength. From 1989 to 2001, the percentage was between 19.9 (1993) and 20.8 (2001). Kaijōjieitai Gojū Nenshi – Shiryōhen (海上自衛隊五十年史、資料編 – JMSDF’s Fifty Year History – Data) (Tokyo 2003), 110.

¹⁰⁵ Reference to hard training and technological innovation are frequent in the Official Instructions. The most dramatic accident occurred in July 1988, when the submarine Nadashio (SS-577) collided with a pleasure fishing boat, killing 30 passengers. Patalano, ‘Shielding the “Hot Gates”’, 869, 890–1. In February 2008, the AEGIS destroyer Atago (DDG-177) was similarly involved in a night collision with a fishing boat, leaving two fishermen missing and presumed dead. Editorial Department, ‘Probe: Atago Crew missed boat though radar saw it’, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 8 June 2008, <www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080608TDY01303.htm>.

¹⁰⁶ Vice Admiral Kaneda Hideaki, JMSDF (Ret.), interview with the author, Tokyo, 5 Aug. 2005.

¹⁰⁷ DCDC, British Maritime Doctrine, 31.

¹⁰⁸ NWDC, Naval Warfare, 31.

¹⁰⁹ Shimei no Jikaku (使命の自覚). Admiral Nagata Hiroshi, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 1 Aug. 1985.

¹¹⁰ Uteba Hibiku (打てば響く).

¹¹¹ Gofun mae Kōdo (五分前コード). This expression is used across the fleet too. Onboard Japanese warships communications concerning routine activities (e.g. morning raising of the flag) are first given ‘five minutes before’ they take place. Author’s cruise on JDS Sawayuki (DD-125), 29 July 2007.

¹¹² Defune (出船). This expression is used to remind sailors and officers alike that they have to be psychologically prepared to ‘clear for action’ at any moment.

¹¹³ Sono Tokini Natte, Nantoka Narō (その時になって、何とかなろう).

¹¹⁴ Sono Tokini Natte, Nantomo Dekinakatta (その時になって、何ともできなかった). Admiral Yada Tsuguo, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 15 Feb.1980.

¹¹⁵ Admiral Fukuchi Takeo, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 15 Dec. 1994.

¹¹⁶ Admiral Ishikawa Tōru, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 27 March 2001.

¹¹⁷ Chi ni Ite Ran wo Wasuresu (治にいて乱をわすれす). Admiral Sakuma Makoto, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 31 Aug. 1989.

¹¹⁸ Admiral Yamamoto Yasumasa, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 13 Oct. 1997.

¹¹⁹ Admiral Sugimoto Masahiko, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 26 July 2010.

¹²⁰ Jūnansei (柔軟性).

¹²¹ Both adjectives were used by Admiral Natsukawa Katsuya, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 25 March 1996.

¹²² Admiral Akahoshi Keiji, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 24 March 2008.

¹²³ Admiral Sugimoto, JMSDF, Chakunin ni Saishi Kunji, 26 July 2010.

¹²⁴ This calculation is based on real terms increases in US dollars that take into account the appreciation of the Japanese yen at the time. IISS, The Military Balance (London: Routledge for IISS 1995), 172.

¹²⁵ Ibid.

¹²⁶ JDA, Defense of Japan 1996, 93; JMoD, Defense of Japan 2011, 179.

¹²⁷ Kōda, interview with the author, 27 May 2008. Also, Koda, ‘A New Carrier Race?, 40–1. Also, Tatsuo Tsukudo, ‘Kōsei ASW to Syusei ASW’ (攻勢AＳＷと守勢ＡＳＷ – Offensive and Defensive ASW), Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol. 2 (1981), 66–71; Hideo Sekino, ‘Kaijōjieitai no Taisen Nōryoku’(海上自衛隊の対潜能力- JMSDF ASW Capabilities) Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol. 2 (1981), 72–5.

¹²⁸ JMSF, Kaijōjieitai Gojū Nenshi, 158.

¹²⁹ Ibid., 539.

¹³⁰ Gaston J. Sigur Jr., ‘Proposed sale of Aegis Weapons System to Japan’, Department of State Bulletin, Sept. 1988, 13. Taisei Ugaki, ‘Kaijōjieitai no Atarashī Ījisukan Unyō Kōsō’ (海上自衛隊の新しいイージス艦運用構想 – New Operational Concept of JMSDF’s Aegis Ships), Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol. 4 (2001), 85.

¹³¹ Koda, ‘A New Carrier Race?’, 44–5.

¹³² Editorial Department, Goeikan Pāfekuto Gaido, 36-39.

¹³³ In the Indian Ocean, each task force encompassed two destroyers, a helicopter complement, and one fast combat support ship (AOE), rotating on a four-month deployment tour. In all, these formations concluded 939 RAS (Replenishment at Sea) distributing 510,000 kilolitres of fuel to 11 countries. In the anti-piracy mission, as of July 2013, the JMSDF surface groups and their reconfigured SH-60Ks protected 445 convoys; the P-3Cs conducted some 869 sorties, for a total of 2,912 civilian vessels escorted. JMoD, Defense of Japan 2010 (Tokyo 2010), 345–6; JMoD, Japan Defense Focus, No. 40 (May 2013), 5.

¹³⁴ The patrolling system is well explained in JMoD, Defense Focus, No. 33 (Oct. 2012), 6–7.

¹³⁵ JMoD, Defense of Japan 2008 (Tokyo 2008), 271.

¹³⁶ The base in Djibouti currently includes some 120 personnel from the JMSDF to attend the command and technical assistance for the P-3Cs deployed in the theatre. JMoD, Defense Focus, No. 33, 6; Senior Captain, JMSDF, interview with the author, Kanoya, 11 April 2010; Rear Admiral Taro Ike, JMSDF, visit to the JMSDF Kanoya air base, Kanoya, 10 April 2010.

¹³⁷ Mulloy, ‘Japan Self-Defense Forces’ Overseas Dispatch Operations in the 1990s’, 134.

¹³⁸ Originally, options were examined for a 7,000–8,000-ton landing ship based on the model of the Italian San Marco class to facilitate the redeployment of elements of the Western Army from Honshu to Hokkaido. Kōda, interview with the author, 17 Aug. 2007.

¹³⁹ Editorial Department, ‘Kaijōjieitai 2007–2008’, 68–9.

¹⁴⁰ JDA, Defense of Japan 2005, 278, 316–17.

¹⁴¹ Koyu Ishii, ‘Dōnaru!? Nayami Ōi Kaijōjieitai no Dejitaruka’ (どうなる！？悩み多い海上自衛隊のデジタル化 – JMSDF’s Digital Technology), Sekai no Kansen 世界の艦船, Vol.2 (2005), 87; Vice Admiral Ōta Fumio, JMSDF (Ret.), interview with the author, Yokosuka, 28 April 2005.

¹⁴² Kaneda, ‘Japan’s National Maritime Doctrines and Capabilities’, 128.

¹⁴³ Editorial Department, ‘Kaijōjieitai 2007–2008’, 151.

¹⁴⁴ JDA, Defense of Japan 2006, 110.

¹⁴⁵ JMoD, Defense of Japan 2011, 123–4.

¹⁴⁶ JDA, Defence of Japan 2005, 211.

¹⁴⁷ JMoD, Defence of Japan (Tokyo 2009), 201.

¹⁴⁸ James Simpson, ‘Coast Guard to Pick up Retiring Hatsuyuki-Class Destroyers?’, Japan Security Watch, 2 April 2013, <http://jsw.newpacificinstitute.org/?p=10821>.

¹⁴⁹ Holmes, ‘Japan’s Cold War Navy’.

¹⁵⁰ Corey J. Wallace, ‘Japan’s Strategic Pivot South: Diversifying the Dual Hedge’, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 13 (2013), Advance Access, 2.

¹⁵¹ References to the ‘maritime nature’ of Japan’s security needs and posture are highlighted in the opening paragraphs of both documents. Government of Japan, National Security Strategy (Tokyo 17 Dec. 2013), 2, <www.cas.go.jp/jp/siryou/131217anzenhoshou/nss-e.pdf>; JMoD, National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2014 and Beyond (Tokyo 17 Dec. 2013), 2, <www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/agenda/guideline/2014/pdf/20131217_e2.pdf>.

¹⁵² Kōda, interview with the author, 17 Aug. 2007; Koda, ‘A New Carrier Race?’, 47–8.

¹⁵³ Justin Goldman, ‘An Amphibious Capability in Japan’s Self-Defense Force: Operationalizing Dynamic Defense’, Naval War College Review 66/4 (2013), 4, 121.

¹⁵⁴ For an assessment of the exercise, cf. Kirk Spitzer, ‘Japan Learns Anew how to Fight From the Sea’, Battleland – Time US, 27 June 2013, <http://nation.time.com/2013/06/27/japan-learns-anew-how-to-fight-from-the-sea/>. Kirk Spitzer, ‘A Nice Fit for Japan?’, Battleland – Time US, 17 June 2013, <http://nation.time.com/2013/06/17/a-nice-fit-for-japan/>.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alessio Patalano

Alessio Patalano is Lecturer in East Asian Warfare and Security at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.