Kyoto-based Mitsufuji got its start nearly 70 years ago as a weaver of decorative belts for kimonos. One day soon, though, it could be spinning high-tech fibers to shield fighter jets from electromagnetic interference.
The company, whose core business is making consumer-facing wearable gadgets, is one of dozens of small ventures that have caught the government's eye in recent years as it looks for dual-use technologies to beef up its military capabilities.
Cultivating a homegrown defense industry was a key plank of Japan's ¥43 trillion ($275 billion) military build-up strategy launched in 2022 to counter escalating security threats from China, Russia and nuclear-armed North Korea.
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