ABSTRACT
Japan faces no shortage of substantial security challenges. Its neighborhood is characterized by tense standoffs over the divided states of China/Taiwan and the Koreas, growing arms spending and arms build-ups, nuclear proliferation, long-standing and sometimes bitter territorial disputes among many of the states in the region, Islamic-related terrorist activity in a number of Southeast Asian states that stands to jeopardize important shipping routes, and widespread concerns over the “rise” of China. Japanese security practices have naturally been evolving to respond to these threats, including in some ways that outside observers find surprising-such as increased military capabilities in some areas, the creation of a full-fledged Ministry of Defense (MOD), and limited dispatch of military forces abroad. Still, such evolution continues to be limited by long-standing institutional constraints and widespread public attitudes that question the need and desirability for further military spending and engagement abroad; in fact, Japanese military spending has declined every year for the past six years in line with general budget-tightening in deficitplagued Japan.1
