Chapter Four: Japan's Military-Industrial Complex

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

For US–Japan defence-production linkages, see Samuels, Rich Nation, Strong Army; Green, Arming Japan.

Chinworth, Inside Japan's Defense.

Samuels, Rich Nation, Strong Army, pp. 154–97.

Asagumo Shimbunsha, Boei Handobukku 2008 (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha, 2008), p. 360.

Ibid., p. 360.

Boei Kankokai Henshubu, Boei Nenkan 2008 (Tokyo: Kankokai Henshubu, 2008), pp. 506–9.

‘2007 Top 100’, Defense News, www.defensenews.com/static/features/top100/charts/rank_2007.php?c=FEA&s=T1C.

Chinworth, Inside Japan's Defense, pp. 21–6; Green, Arming Japan, p. 122; Ikegami-Andersson, ‘Arms Procurement Decision Making: Japan’, p. 168; Yukari Kubota, ‘Nihon no Boei Sangyo no Tokushitsu’, Kokusai Seiji, vol. 131, November 2002, pp. 114–15; Boei Kankokai Henshubu, Boei Nenkan 2008 (Tokyo: Kankokai Henshubu, 2008), p. 510.

‘Itochu Kogaisha mo Moriya Hikoku o Gorufu Settai Keijunikai’, Asahi Shimbun, 18 February 2008, www.asahi.com/special/071029/TKY200802180474.html.

‘Shikin Ryunyu “Nai” Kyuma-shi Seikai Kanyo o Hitei’, ibid., 25 July 2008, p. 4. For an insider's account of Kyuma's alleged implication in corruption associated with Miyazaki, see Naoki Akiyama, Boei Gikoku (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2008), pp. 58–66. For more on defence-related scandals, see Nobumasa Ota, Jitsumei Kokuhatsu Boeisho (Tokyo: Kinobi, 2008).

Boeisho, Boeisho Kaikaku Kaigi Dai4kai Setsumei Shiryo, 1 February 2008, www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/bouei/dai4/pdf/siryou2.pdf; Boeisho, Dai4kai Boeisho Kaikaku Kaigi Sanko Shiryo, 1 February 2008, http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/bouei/dai4/pdf/siryou2.pdf.

‘Boeicho Amakudari Oi Kigyo Juchu mo Mashi’, Shimbun Akahata, 12 April 2006, p. 15; Shukan Kinyobihen, Mitsubishi Juko no Seitai: Kokusaku Boei Kigyo (Tokyo: Kinyobi, 2008), pp. 26–32.

‘Kokubozoku no Giin Kyogikai, Beigun Jusangyo to Hinpan ni Kaigo’, Shimbun Akahata, 3 December, www.jcp.or.jp/akahta/aik07/2007-12-03/2007120301_02_0.html.

Boeisho Kaikaku Kaigi, Hokokusho: Fuyoji no Bunseki to Kaikaku no Hokosei, Tokyo, 15 July 2008, http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/bouei/dai11/pdf/siryou.pdf, pp. 36–40; Boeisho Sogo Shutoku Suishin Purojekkuto Chimu, Hokokusho, Tokyo, March 2008, http://www.mod.go.jp/j/info/sougousyutoku/pdf/siryou/10_02.pdf.

Boeichohen, Boei Hakusho 2006 (Tokyo: Okurasho Insatsukyoku, 2006), pp. 276–80; Gen Nakatani, Daremo Kakenakatta Boeisho no Shinjistu (Tokyo: Gentosha, 2008).

Richard A. Colignon and Chikako Usui, Amakudari: The Hidden Fabric of Japan's Economy (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), pp. 22–3.

Boei Kankokai Henshubu, Boei Nenkan 2007 (Tokyo: Kankokai Henshubu, 2007), p. 329.

For the background to the F-SX, see Shinji Otsuki and Masaru Honda, Nichibei FSX Senso: Nichibei Domei o Yurugasu Gijutsu Masatsu (Tokyo: Ronsosha, 1991).

Reinhard Drifte, Arms Production in Japan: The Military Applications of Civilian Technology (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986), pp. 74–8; Oros, Normalizing Japan, pp. 94–110.

Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengokai Boei Seisan Iinkai, Waga Kuni Boei Sangyo no Genjo Nado ni Tsuite, p. 32, presentation provided via personal contact at Keidanren Defense Production Committee, July 2007.

Asahi Shimbun Jieitai 50nen Shuzaiha, Jieitai Shirarezaru Henyo (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 2005), pp. 268–70.

METI Boei Sangyo Gijutsu Kiban Kenkyukai, Boei Sangyo Gijutsu no Iji Ikusei ni Kansuru Kihon-teki Hoko: Niju Isseiki ni okeru Kiban no Kochiku ni Mukete, Tokyo, November 2000; Boeicho, Arata na Jidai no Sobi Shutoku o Mezashite: Shin ni Hitsuyo na Boei Seisan Gijutsu Kiban no Kakuritsu ni Mukete, 2005, p. 1; Boei Kenkyujo, Waga Kuni no Boei Gijutsu Kiban ga Sobihin Shutoku ni oyabasu Koka ni Kansuru Chosa Kenkyu, Tokyo, 2006.

Junichi Nishiyama, ‘Buki Yushutsu to Anzen Hosho’, Kaigai Jijo, vol. 56, no. 3, 2008, p. 20; Junichi Nishiyama, ‘Nihon no Boei to Gijutsu Kaihatsu’, in Satoshi Morimoto (ed.), Kiro ni Tatsu Nihon no Anzen: Anzen Hosho, Kikikanri Seisaku no Jissai to Tenbo (Tokyo: Hokuseido, 2008), p. 353.

Defense Policy Studies Subcommittee, National Defense Division, Policy Research Council, Liberal Democratic Party, Recommendations on Japan's New Defense Policy: Toward a Safer and More Secure Japan in the World, 30 March 2003, http://www.jimin.jp/jimin/main/seisaku.html.

Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengokai Boei Seisan Iinkai, Teigen: Kongo no Boeiryoku Seibi no Arikata ni tsuite’: Boei Seisan Gijutsu Kiban no Kyoka ni Mukete, 2004, reported in Nihon Keizai Dantai Rengokai Boei Seisan Iinkai, Boei Seisan Gijustu Kiban ni Tsuite: Kokunai Kiban no Jujutsu to Kokusai Kyoryoku, Tokyo, September 2005, p. 6.

Abe Shinzo, ‘Kaiken de Kosenken mo Mitomeru Beki’, AERA, 5 August 2004, p. 17.

Anzen Hosho to Boeiryokyu ni Kansuru Kondankai, Anzen Hosho to Boeiryokyu ni Kansuru Kondankai ni Okeru Kore Made no Giron to Gaiyo 2004, http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ampobouei/dai7/7siryou1.pdf, p. 5.

‘Kensho Buki Yushutsu Sangensoku Kanwa: Kokubozoku, Zaikai ga Kenin’, Asahi Shimbun, 11 December 2004, p. 4.

Boeishohen, Boei Hakusho 2008 (Tokyo: Zaimusho Insatsukyoku, 2008), p. 388.

Armitage and Nye, The US–Japan Alliance, p. 29.

IFSEC participants are: MHI, IHI, KHI, Shimadzu Corporation, Toshiba, IHI Aerospace, Komatsu, Daikin Industries, NEC, Hitatchi, Fujitsu, MELCO, Boeing, GenCorp Aerojet, GEC, Lockheed Martin, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon, Science Applications International Cooperation and United Defense.

Keidanren/IFSEC, Keidanren, IFSEC Joint Report: Revised US–Japan Statement of Mutual Interests, 21 January 2003, http://www.keidanren.or.jp/japanese/policy/2003/005e.html.

‘Yamada Yoko, Boeizoku Dantai ni Ichiokuen ka, Kyoryokuhi Shishutsu no Bunsho’, Asahi Shimbun, 30 November 2007, http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/1026/TKY200711300364.html.

‘Shonin Kammon no Yamada Yoko, Miyazaki Motosenmu “Akiyama-shi Gawa ni Ichiokuen Shishutsu”‘, Yomiuri Shimbun, 22 May 2008, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20080522-OYT1T00426.htm.

The Japanese side included the former JDA Director Generals/Ministers of Defense Tsutomu Kawara, Fumio Kyuma, Fukushiro Nukuga, Tokuichiro Tamazawa, Gen Nakatani, Shigeru Ishiba; former DFAA Director General Noboru Hoshuyama; former DPJ leader Seiji Maehara; former JDA Administrative Vice-Minister Ken Sato; former LDP Secretary-General Tsutomu Takebe; and the Chairman of MHI and senior representatives from MELCO, KHI, NEC, Hitachi, IHI, Toshiba, Itochu, Sumitomo, Marubeni and Yamada Corporation. Former Prime Ministers Abe and Fukuda are also reported to have been members of the board in the past. On the US side, prominent figures included former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, former US Ambassador Michael Armacost and former Pentagon adviser William J. Schneider. Shukan Kinyobihen, Mitsubishi Juko no Seitai: Kokusaku Boei Kigyo (Tokyo: Kinyobi, 2008), p. 18.

‘Kokubo Ugomeku Kane’, Asahi Shimbun, 25 July 2008, p. 39.

Boeishohen, Boei Hakusho 2008, p. 388; Kankokai Henshubu, Boei Nenkan 2006 (Tokyo: Kankokai Henshubu, 2006), pp. 147–8.

Kubota Yukari, ‘Japan's New Strategy as an Arms Exporter: Revising the Three Principles on Arms Exports’, RIPS Policy Perspectives, no. 7, November 2008, http://www.rips.or.jp/from_rips/pdf/japans_new_strategy.pdf, pp. 15–16.