Critics, both Japan's neighbors and at home, urge Tokyo to learn from its past and pull back from military expansion. There's also domestic wariness over nuclear weapons.

Japan’s Defense Ministry is asking for a 8.3% budget increase in 2020, its largest rise in more than two decades, in the face of China’s rapid military modernization and a looming threat from ...

Japan annually must recruit 14,000 people to maintain the size of its armed forces. That’s one out of every 785 young people. But owing to poor pay and prestige and the stigma the military ...

Japan defence minister says no scope for ‘slightest gap’ in defence preparedness in potential military event from Russia, China and North Korea ...

In 2019, Japan ranked eighth in global military spending, but relative to other countries, it spends a small share (1 percent) of its wealth on its military.

In August, Japan’s Ministry of Defense proposed a 1.2% military spending increase in 2020, taking the annual budget to a record 5.32 trillion yen (about $50 billion).

Japan’s military performed 25 missions in 2020 in defense of US ships or planes, a sign of the growing integration of two of Asia’s most powerful armed forces.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, is stepping down this week after eight years in office. With his career ending, he has made a final push to strengthen Japan's military.

Identify any significant shifts in Japan’s defense policy based on its 2021 annual white paper. The Japanese Ministry of Defense (JMOD)’s 2021 annual white paper was notable for four main reasons.

Friday is the 80th anniversary of then-Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's World War II surrender, but as living ...

Japan, despite an officially pacifist constitution written when memories of its World War II rampage were still fresh, boasts a military that puts all but a few nations to shame.