Chapter Two: Japan's Military Doctrine, Expenditure and Power Projection

Abstract

Is Japan on a path towards assuming a greater military role internationally, or has the recent military normalisation ground to a halt since the premiership of Junichiro Koizumi? In this book, Christopher W. Hughes assesses developments in defence expenditure, civil–military relations, domestic and international military–industrial complexes, Japan's procurement of regional and global power-projection capabilities, the expansion of US–Japan cooperation, and attitudes towards nuclear weapons, constitutional revision and the use of military force.

In all of these areas, dynamic and long-term changes outweigh Japan's short-term political logjam over security policy. Hughes argues that many post-war constraints on Japan's military role are still eroding, and that Tokyo is moving towards a more assertive military role and strengthened US–Japan cooperation. Japan's remilitarisation will boost its international security role and the dominance of the US–Japan alliance in regional and global security affairs, but will need to be carefully managed if it is not to become a source of destabilising tensions.

Notes

JDA, National Defense Program Guidelines, FY 2005–, http://www.jda.go.jp, pp. 2–3.

Ibid., p. 9.

Boeishohen, Boei Hakusho 2008 (Tokyo: Zaimusho Insatsukyoku, 2008), p. 333.

Asagumo Shimbunsha, Boei Handobukku 1997 (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha, 1997), pp. 268–70; Asagumo Shimbunsha, Boei Handobukku 1998 (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha, 1998), pp. 268–70; Asagumo Shimbunsha, Boei Handobukku 2007 (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha, 2007), p. 336; Boeishohen, Boei Hakusho 2008 (Tokyo: Zaimusho Insatsukyoku, 2008), p. 334

Boeisho, Waga Kuni no Boei to Yosan, Heisei 21nendo Gaisan Yokyu no Gaiyo (Tokyo: Boeisho, 2008), http://www.mod.go.jp/j/library/archives/yosan/2009/yosan.pdf, p. 28; Boeisho, Waga Kuni no Boei to Yosan, Heisei 21nendo Yosan no Gaiyo (Tokyo: Boeisho, 2008), http://www.mod.go.jp/j/library/archives/yosan/2009/yosan.pdf, p. 28. In response to rising fuel costs, in 2008 MSDF ships ran at reduced speeds to conserve fuel, and the ASDF likewise reduced low-flying exercises. However, problems with fuel costs did not prevent the GSDF from holding its largest exercise since 1994 for territorial defence, involving over 3,000 personnel. The exercise took place in October 2008 in Hokkaido. See ‘Genyu de Kaiji Enshu ga Chushi no Kanosei, Kuji wa Teikuhiko o Sakugen’, Yomiuri Shimbum, 26 August 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jo/national/news/20080826-OYT1T00443.htm; ‘GSDF Stages Huge Defense Drill’, Japan Times Online, 28 October 2008, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/20081028a5.html.

Kent E. Calder, Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 437–8.

‘Beitaishi ga Koen, Nihon no Boeihi “Zogaku Subeki”‘, Yomiuri Shimbun, 20 May 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jo/national/news/20080520-OYT1T00608.htm.

For an example of Japan comparing its defence expenditure with NATO's, see Boeishohen, Boei Hakusho 2008 (Tokyo: Zaimusho Insatsukyoku, 2008), p. 122. For Japan's methodology for calculating defence expenditures without including the JCG, see Chuma Kiyofuku, Gunjihi o Yomu, Iwanami Bukuretto No. 68 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1986), pp. 42–49.

Kaijo Hoancho, Kaijo Hoanchoho, 1948, http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S23/S23HO028.html.

Naigai Shuppanhen, Boeicho Kankei Horeishu (Tokyo: Naigai Shuppan, 2005), p. 71; The JCG is defined as a paramilitary force in The Military Balance. See IISS, The Military Balance 2009, p. 394.

David Leheny, Think Global, Fear Local: Sex, Violence and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006), pp. 157–69; Richard J. Samuels, Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2007), pp. 78–9; Richard J. Samuels, ‘“New Fighting Power!” Japan's Growing Maritime Capabilities and East Asian Security’, International Security, vol. 32, no. 3, Winter 2007–08, pp. 84–112.

Maeda Testuo, Jieitai: Henyo no Yukie (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho, 2007), pp. 144–5.

Harrison M. Holland, Managing Defense: Japan's Dilemma (New York: University Press of America, 1988), pp. 34–5; Michael E. Chinworth, Inside Japan's Defense: Technology, Economics and Strategy (Washington DC: Brassey's US, 1992), p. 63; Masako Ikegami- Andersson, ‘Arms Procurement Decision Making: Japan’, in Ravinder Pal Singh (ed.), Arms Procurement Decision Making Volume I: China, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Thailand (Oxford: OUP for SIPRI, 1998).

Kaijo Hoancho Somubu Seimuka 2007, figures provided via National Diet Library, 2007; IISS, The Military Balance 2009, p. 394.

‘Kenkyu Chakushu Miokuri: Choshatei Yudodan’, Asahi Shimbun, 8 December 2004, p. 3.

‘Sentoheli Appachi Chotatsu Chushi, Ichiki 200okuen ni Neagari de’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 23 August 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20080823-OYT1T00413.htm.

‘F15 Kaisu 947okuen, FX Sentei Nanko Boeisho Gaisan Yokyu’, Asahi Shimbun, 27 August 2008, http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0827/TKY200808270036.html; Boeisho, Waga Kuni no Boei to Yosan, Heisei 21nendo Yosan no Gaiyo, pp. 21–2.

‘Kimaranu Jiki Sentoki: Boeisho Chugoku wa Gunji Zokyo Bokuryoku ni Kennen’, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 26 August 2008, p. 2.

‘Beitaishi ga Koen, Nihon no Boeihi “Zogaku Subeki”‘, Yomiuri Shimbun, 20 May 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jo/national/news/20080520-OYT1T00608.htm.

Boeisho, Waga Kuni no Boei to Yosan, Heisei 21nendo Yosan no Gaiyo, p. 23.

Richard L. Armitage and Joseph S. Nye, The US-Japan Alliance: Getting Asia Right Through 2020 (Washington DC: CSIS, February 2007), http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/070216_asia2020.pdf2020, p. 28.

Alexander Neill, Jonathan Eyal and John Hemmings (eds), Delivering Defence Industrial Change (London: Royal United Services Institute, 2008), http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/JapanEnglish.pdf, p. 61.

Christopher Bolkcom and Emma Chanlett-Avery, Potential F-22 Raptor Export to Japan, CRS Report for Congress (Washington DC: Congressional Research Service, 2 July 2007), p. 5; ‘Visiting F-22s Waging a War with the Bean Counters’, Japan Times Online, 23 February 2009, http://search.japntimes.co.jp/print/nn20090223a9.html.

‘Boei Yosan no Gaisan Yokyu, Nenryo Kosho de Sogaku 4cho 8448okuen’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 27 August 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20080827-OYT1T00401.htm.

‘Heri Kubo “Hygua” Haibi Yokosuka ni Atarashii Goeikan’, Asahi Shimbun, 19 March 2009, http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0318/TKY200903180279.html.

Ebata Kensuke, Nihon no Gunji Shisutemu: Jieitai Sobi no Mondaiten (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2004), pp. 227–8.

‘MSDF's SM-3 Test Fails To Shoot Down Missile’, Japan Times Online, 21 November 2008, http://searchjapantimes.co.jp/print/nn20081121a3.html; ‘Despite Failure, Missile Defense System OK'd’, ibid., 17 December 2008, http://searchjapantimes.co.jp/print/nn20081217a3.html.

‘Tokyo-area Gets Last PAC-3 Battery’, ibid., 30 March 2008, http://searchjapantimes.co.jp/print/nn20080330a9.html.

‘Yogeki Missairu, Yoyogi Koen Nado de Tenkai Kento Kugatsu ni mo Kunren’, Asahi Shimbun, 31 August 2007, http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0830/TKY200708300385.html.

‘MSDF Fails To Intercept Missile in Test’, Daily Yomiuri Online, 21 November 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20081121TDY01303.htm.

‘Missile Attack Alarm Falsely Tripped’, Japan Times Online, 14 August 2008, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20080815a8.html.

Aoki Setsuko, Nihon no Uchu Senryaku (Tokyo: Keio Gijuku Daigaku Shuppan, 2006), pp. 177–80; Oros, Normalizing Japan, p. 137.

For a detailed account of Japan's introduction of the IGSs, see Sunohara Tsuyoshi, Tanjo Kokusan Supai Eisei: Dokuji Joho to Nichibei Domei (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 2005).

Pat Norris, Spies in the Sky: Surveillance Satellites in War and Peace (New York: Springer, 2008), p. 180.

Suzuki Kazuto, ‘Space: Japan's New Security Agenda’, RIPS Policy Perspectives, 5 October 2007, http://www.rips.or.jp/English/publications/rips_pp_5.html.

Kokkai Shugiin, Uchu Kihon Hoan, May 2008, http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_gian.htm.

Shusho Kantei, Uchu Kaihatsu Senryaku Semonin Chosakai Koseiin, August 2008, http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/pdf/1.pdf.

Japan Ministry of Defense, Space Related Defence Policies and Future Topics for Consideration, November 2008, http://www.mod.go.jp/e/d_policy/pdf/space2008.pdf p. 4.

‘Govt May Propose Missile Defense Satellite’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 5 November 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081105TDY020307.htm.

Boeisho Uchu Kaihatsu Riyo Iinkai, Uchu Kaihatsu Riyo ni Kansuru Kihon Hoshin ni Tsuite, 15 January 2009, http://www.mod.go.jp/j/info/uchuukaihatsu/pdf/kihonhoushin.pdf pp. 4, 6.

‘Uchu no Boei Riyo Kaikin, Gijutsu Kenkyu no Keikakushitsu Shinsetsu e, Boeisho’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 28 August 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20080828-OYT1T00100.htm.

Samuels, ‘“New Fighting Power!”‘, p. 99.

Christopher W. Hughes, Japan's Security Agenda: Military, Economic and Environmental Dimensions (Boulder: CO, Lynne Rienner, 2004), pp. 222–6.

‘Boei Taiko Kaitei Honkaku Giron e: Chucho Kokusai Koken ni Juten’, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 9 January 2009, p. 2; Kaneko Masafumi, ‘Boei Taiko o Do Minaosu ka’, PHP Policy Review, vol. 2, no. 11, 10 December 2008, p. 7