As Japan modernizes its national security policies and defense capabilities, most of the attention has focused, understandably, on warfighting.
Changes in laws pertaining to the exercise of the right of collective self-defense give Japan greater latitude to respond to a contingency and its ally, the United States, will rely on that new scope in those situations. The acquisition of missiles that allow Japan to strike adversaries has forced a rethink of long-standing assumptions about the role that the country will play in a crisis; Japan is no longer just a shield while Washington wields the “sword.”
I see signs of seriousness about defense reform elsewhere. The rubber meets the road at the assessment of far less glamorous, nitty gritty military capabilities in key government documents. For example, bullets aren’t sexy, but you can’t fight without them.