Japanese Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama’s new administrationis undertaking a thorough review
of Japan’s alliance with the UnitedStates, which is bound to raise furtherconcerns in Washington.
Hatoyama and his centre-left Democratic
Party of Japan (DPJ) unseated the pro-US Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a House ofRepresentatives election on 30 August, ending
the LDP’s near-perpetual one-party dominancesince its creation in 1955.
With former communist nations becoming
integrated with the modern capitalist world,the LDP had appeared to have finally completed its historical mission in the post-Cold
War era – supporting Japan’s military role asan anti-communist bastion of the US against
China and Russia.
The US ‘nuclear umbrella’ has protected
Japan against potential adversaries such as
China, North Korea and Russia, while assuringother states in the region that had suffered fromJapan’s colonial rule and occupation that Tokyo
would not return to its militaristic past.
Due to the US nuclear deterrent, Japan has
enjoyed a generally stable strategic outlook,with its population usually risk-averse about any
change and even ‘military-allergic’ since the endof the Second World War: the legacy of the US
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
in 1945. Thus, the previous LDP governments
mainly focused national interest and resourceson economic growth.
The era of Japan’s strong pacifism, as
enshrined in the US-imposed ‘peace constitution’, determined the posture and structure ofJapan’s military forces to defend the nationand made the security alliance with the US thecentrepiece of Japanese security policy in thepostwar period.
During the administration of popular former
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi from 2001
to 2006, Japan aimed to strengthen bilateral military and security ties with the US – adrive reinforced by China’s military build-up,
North Korea’s nuclear aspirations and the global threat of terrorism. The US-Japan security
alliance under former US President George
W Bush and Koizumi is often referred to as a‘golden era’ between the two countries. Koizumi deployed Japan Ground Self-Defense
Force (JGSDF) units to Iraq to contribute to theUS war against terrorism.
Now, the new leaders in Tokyo still regard
US strike capabilities and the nuclear deterrence provided by the US as essential for
Japan’s overall security – as well as for peaceand security in the region – but they do notnecessarily see a pro-US stance as essential
for the nation’s economic development.
Enormous economic growth in East Asia
– especially in China, which is a 1.3 billion
consumer market – is changing the structureof worldwide and regional business and industry. Hatoyama has called for the East Asian
community to develop to the extent that it
will resemble an Asian version of the EU. He
also advocates a common Asian currency as anatural extension of the rapid economic growth

Japan’snew dawn
Japanese navy destroyer JS Kurama
leads other escort vessels during
a fleet review off Sagami, south ofTokyo, Japan, in October
PA Photos; 1363679

It remains unclear how the new Hatoyama
administration will reshape Japan’srelationship with the US, but its major
defence review, brought on by government
budget restraint, will determine thecountry’s future defence posture. Kosuke
Takahashi reports

jdw.janes.com • JDW • 18 November 2009 • 27

COUNTRY BRIEFINGJAPANUS Army operators demonstrate the Joint Tactical
Ground Station (JTAGS) system, part of the missile
defence initiative at Misawa Air Base, in northern Japan,
in 2008. The system analyses the projected impact
location of a missile and conveys the information to theUS military and the Japanese Defence Ministry
PA Photos; 1363678

in the region. Hatoyama aims to conduct a rapid
shift in Tokyo’s axis of co-operation towards
other Asian nations.
The DPJ, the dominant party in the rulingcoalition led by Hatoyama, has advocated policies of multilateral co-operation while callingfor a more equal partnership with the US. TheDPJ has often refused to support US policies,
most notably the war in Iraq, and has criticised
post-war Japanese diplomatic policy as ‘toeing
the US line’.
In an upper house question-and-answer session on 29 October, Hatoyama said the review
of Japan’s alliance with the US would be “comprehensive”. He later told reporters that it would
cover Japanese funding of US bases, the Statusof Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the relocationof the US Marine Corps (USMC) Air Station
Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.
Hatoyama said his government is exploring
the possibility of reducing Japan’s host nationspending on US military bases. This so-called‘sympathy budget’ began in 1978 and covers
utilities and other expenses.
The budget allocation for Fiscal Year 2009
(FY09) comes to JPY189.7 billion (USD2.09billion). With government debt expected toreach 187 per cent of GDP this year, Tokyo nolonger wants to outlay the large sums of money
it currently pays to support US military forces
in Japan. This fiscal restraint also places a limit
on how much it can spend to modernise its SelfDefense Forces (SDF) domestically.
The SOFA, which governs US military operations in Japan and legal arrangements for itspersonnel, has not been revised for nearly halfa century. A group of governors representing
prefectures that host military facilities, suchas the Okinawa and Kanagawa prefectures,
has called for a clause covering environmental

pollution and destruction at US military basesin Japan.
In terms of the relocation of the USMC Air
Station Futenma in Okinawa, the prime minister
said “various options” would be considered. The
government inherited the 2006 Japan-US agreement that calls for relocating the base within
Okinawa, but Hatoyama has indicated that hewill seek to relocate the US air station outside
Okinawa, possibly even outside Japan.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has
floated the idea of merging Futenma’s heliportfunctions with the nearby Kadena Air Base – thelargest US military base in the Far East.
The new administration on 16 Octoberdecided to postpone by one year the formulationof the new National Defense Program Guidelines that will define the country’s basic security
policy for the next 10 years, as well as the government’s FY10-15 mid-term defence build-up
programme, which will be based on the new
National Defense Program Guidelines.
The current guidelines were formulated in
2004 and were supposed to be revised by thegovernment before the end of 2009. The administration plans to make interim allowances forthe delay in next year’s national budget.
On 31 August, just one day after the DPJ won
a landslide victory in the last lower house election, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced
its budgetary request for FY10. The requested
amount reached JPY4.84 trillion: up 3 per centfrom the budget amount for 2009. However, on
General Ge Zhenfeng (right), Deputy Chief of theGeneral Staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA),reviews a guard of honour in Tokyo, Japan,in February PA Photos; 1363677

28 • 18 November 2009 • JDW • jdw.janes.com

JAPAN29 September the Hatoyama cabinet decided toscrap the budgetary requests from every ministry, including the MoD.
The MoD then on 15 October announced
a renewed budgetary request for 2010, whichamounted to JPY4.70 trillion: down JPY1.9 billion from the previous year. The administrationplans to compile the national budget for the next
year by the end of 2009.

Land forces

The JGSDF numbers 160,108 personnel, consisting of 151,641 regular SDF personnel and8,467 reserves.
Since the adoption of the 1995 National
Defense Program Guidelines, the JGSDF has
seen a reduction of around 28,000 members. In
the renewed budgetary request for FY10 submitted to the cabinet, the JGSDF asked for 403 moreregular personnel, saying that “in order to perform appropriate tasks, it is important to secure
proper human resources”.
Making allowance for Japan’s geographicalfeatures – such as its mountain ranges, rivers andstraits – the JGSDF has nine divisions and fivebrigades spread across the nation.
Unlike the now-defunct Imperial JapaneseArmy, the JGSDF has put more emphasis on theoperational readiness, high mobility and compactness of each unit.
Although the Imperial Japanese Army
attached great importance to collaboration
between each division and brigade, the JGSDF
has stressed their independent operation as abasic military unit under the five armies. These
are the Northern Army covering Hokkaido, theNorth Eastern Army covering the Tohoku districts, the Eastern Army covering the Kantoand Koshinetsu districts, the Middle Armycovering the Kansai and Shikoku districts
and the Western Army covering Kyushu andOkinawa districts.
In addition to these regional armies, theJGSDF has a Central Readiness Force (CRF)
of around 4,200 soldiers, which is under thedirect control of the defence minister. The CRF
was established in March 2007, following thecreation of the Japanese MoD from the former
Japanese Defense Agency.
The CRF is capable of responding to any situation on either Japanese or foreign soil. The unit
can also be employed as a rapid reaction force
to meet requirements outlined in the National
Defense Program Guidelines for the improvement of the JGSDF’s ability to deal with issues
such as foreign peacekeeping operations and antiterrorist operations.
To date, CRF members have been sent tothe UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), the UN
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on theGolan Heights.
The MoD has requested JPY15.7 billion toprocure 16 new TK-X main battle tanks (MBTs)
in the next national budget. This new tank will

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis-equipped
destroyer Chokai fires an interceptor missile to shootdown a target in space, off the coast of the Hawaiian
island of Kauai, in November 2008
PA Photos/Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force; 1363680

replace and/or complement the existing Type 74
and Type 90 MBTs. The big difference between
the TK-X and Type 90 is that the former isequipped with current-generation C4I systems.

Naval forces

As an island nation, Japan has invested heavily in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force(JMSDF), which has some 430 naval vessels.

The JMSDF has an official strength of 45,550
personnel, operating 52 destroyers, including
six state-of-the-art Aegis destroyers, and 16 submarines, according to a 2009 MoD White Paper
published in July.
The force is based strictly on defensive armament. Its main tasks are to maintain control of thenation’s sea lanes and to patrol territorial waters.
It has also stepped up its participation in UN-led
peacekeeping operations and maritime interdiction operations.
Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan on 25
October advised the JMSDF to prepare for an
increased threat from North Korea and to combat
terrorism during a fleet review in Sagami Bay off
Kanagawa Prefecture.
“As security conditions surrounding Japanhave drastically changed recently, the SelfDefense Forces are required to respond todiverse situations involving the proliferation ofweapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles as well as terrorism,” Kan said in an address
aboard the 5,200-ton destroyer Kurama, which
two days later collided with a South Korean container ship in the Kammon Straits and caught
fire, leaving six crew members on the JMSDF
vessel slightly injured, according to the MoD.
Kan said Pyongyang’s missile launch in April– which flew over Japan – and a nuclear test inMay “can never be tolerated’’ and the reclusive
nation remains “a serious threat to the peaceand security of Japan, East Asia and the international community”. Commending the JMSDF
for its anti-piracy mission off Somalia, Kan also
said he expects that naval officers will “contribute to the peace and stability of the world underdemocratic control”.
As tensions mounted prior to North Korea’s
failed attempt to launch a newly developed,
satellite-bearing long-range missile in April, theJMSDF deployed the Kongou and the Chokai– the two Aegis-equipped ballistic missile

The Kongou-classdestroyer JS Myoukou
leads a formation of Japan
Maritime Self-Defense
Force ships at the end ofExercise ‘Annualex 19G’,
the maritime componentof the Japan/US Exercise‘Keen Sword 08’, in thePhilippine Sea in 2007
US Navy; 1356117

FULL PAGE ADFULL PAGE AD

jdw.janes.com • JDW • 18 November 2009 • 31

JAPAN
defence (BMD) destroyers that are fitted with
SM-3 missiles from Japan’s six Aegis-equipped
destroyers – to the Sea of Japan. The Japanese
Aegis-equipped destroyer Kirishima was sent tothe Pacific to detect and track the North Korean
projectile’s path and to collect data to determine whether it was a satellite or missile (theKirishima had no ability to intercept it).
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF)
also shifted its Patriot Advanced Capability-3(PAC-3) ground-based interceptor missiles, originally deployed at the Hamamatsu base in theShizuoka prefecture, to JGSDF bases in Akita
and Iwate in north-eastern Japan, where rocket
debris from a failed launch might have fallen.
Japan’s BMD Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) canintercept inter-continental ballistic missiles at analtitude of about 100 km while the PAC-3 has arange of about 20 km. The ground-based PAC-3
is responsible for the lower range of the missile
shield and is designed to intercept incoming missiles in the event the SM-3 misses.
Japan spent JPY662.3 billion to deploy its ballistic missile defence system between 2004 and2008. Of this amount, JPY40.3 billion funded
the PAC-3.
Meanwhile, the MoD has requested JPY118.1
billion in next year’s budget to build its largestever helicopter carrier. The new destroyer will
be a 19,500-ton amphibious warfare ship thatcan carry 14 helicopters. Japan’s current helicopter destroyers, Hyuga and Ise, are 13,950-ton

Patriot PAC-3 missile
launchers at Kadena
Air Base in Okinawa,
southern Japan, in 2007.
The deployment is part ofa multibillion dollar effort
to build a ballistic missile
shield in the Pacific tocounter the threat of an
attack by North Korea
PA Photos; 1187258

A Mitsubishimanufactured F-4EJ
fighter aircraft. The
type is due to retire
from 2013
JASDF; 1325410

ships that can carry a maximum of 11 helicop- White Paper, the JASDF has 202 F-15J/DJs,ters each.
84 F-2A/Bs and 73 F-4EJ jets – although
the latter have been in use since the Vietnam
War and are scheduled to begin to retire fromaround 2013.
Japan has considered Lockheed-Martin’s
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), likemany of its counterparts throughout the world, F-22 Raptor, regarded as the most advanced
is also going through a period of transition as it air-superiority fighter in the world, to replacecomes to terms with a declining defence budget the ageing F-4EJs, even though the US gov(in real terms) and the continued need to shift ernment has said the F-22 would never beexported. Japan has repeatedly said that it istowards modern operations.
The JASDF, which has 47,128 personnel, seeking access to information on the F-22’scurrently operates 359 fighter aircraft of three technologies and performance data to review its
main types. According to the July defence capabilities before procuring next-generation(FX) fighters for the JASDF.
However, in late October US President Barack
Obama formally decided to end F-22 Raptor
fighter production as he continued to cope withthe country’s growing national budget deficit.
Japan’s MoD was previously scheduled to
begin the acquisition of next-generation FX
fighters for the JASDF during FY09.
On 15 October the MoD requested a total ofaround JPY22.5 billion to renovate and upgrade
64 F-2s and four F-15s to improve the country’s
air defence capabilities – impromptu measures
to reduce the impact of a delayed FX selection
until Japan selects the new aircraft among thefive contenders to replace the F-4 fleet: Lockheed-Martin’s F-35, Eurofighter’s Typhoon,Boeing’s F-15FX and F/A-18E/F and Dassault’s Rafale.
The MoD’s Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), meanwhile, continues todevelop a Japanese stealth fighter called Shinshin. The institute is currently conducting
experiments such as radar reflectivity. The Shinshin’s maiden flight is scheduled for 2013.
Since 2001, the TRDI has worked to develop
a next-generation cargo transport (C-X) and anext-generation maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare aircraft (P-X) as a joint JASDF/JMSDF effort. The C-Xs are planned to replace
C-1 aircraft and the P-Xs to succeed P-3Cs.
The two aircraft conducted their maiden flights
in September 2007.
Kosuke Takahashi is a JDWCorrespondent, based in Tokyo

Air force