Nothing Defensive About Japan’s Military

[NNN0LHI]

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2006071437908

Every time North Korea fired missiles, Japan was quick to exaggerate the danger of North Korea and to step up its armament. Japan already possesses one of the biggest military powers in the world in terms of both weapons and budget. Some say that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) has limits, because the Japanese SDF is composed of only officers and has never been at war. Experts point out, however, that Japan has the potential to manufacture nuclear weapons and is one of the three biggest military forces in the world, if its electronic weapons equipped with cutting-edge technology.

For self-defense only-

New tanks and armored cars, two vehicles the Japanese are churning out, cost about 900 million yen, or 7.7 billion won. The Japanese SDF also possess 490 helicopters, among which 89 of them are Apache helicopters.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) owns four Aegis cruisers – the most in the world after the U.S. It is also planning to add four more cruisers. One cruiser costs about 1 trillion won, and according to one executive of Japan’s MSDF, it would need to be attacked by 50 fighter jets at once to be sunk. Besides the Aegis cruisers, Japanese MSDF has more than a hundred P-3C anti-submarine weapons, which are capable of firing surface to air missiles. The Japanese Air Self Defense Forces own some 200 F15J fighter jets, second most after the U.S.

[Kagemusha]

1. So where's its strategic bombers? Amphibious assault forces?

It's an island. Tanks aren't gonna cross the Sea of Japan into N. Korea. Tanks aren't even needed to defend the country - that's been known for a long time. So who's happy that they have tanks? Defense contractors, that's who. If Japan's not gonna fight the US' wars, the least it can do is keep its manufacturers happy by buying arms.

Making Japan out to be a military superpower on the basis of very very big ifs is missing the point. Japan is potentially a major military power. That does NOT make its current military posture, composition or aspiration, offensive.

[acmejack]

2. They are very proficient as well.

Or they were in the day.

[Sherman A1]

3. Aside from the various factual errors

There might be some grains of truth in the article

[Kagemusha]

4. I'll concede grains, sure. No question there's a militarist movement

But it's an aspiration to relevance. It's not some dark conspirational ambition to mass produce nuclear weapons so as to atomize N. Korea off the face of the earth. Arguing so is just pushing the view that Japan fears nukes, so it's the only thing that'll keep them in line, ergo, N. Korea is doing the Lord's work, or at least Asia's. I'm not ready to back an argument like that. This is real life, not a bad Clancy novel.