Japan Self-Defense Forces
Since the end of the Cold War, and particularly into the 21st century, increased tensions with North Korea,[9] China, and Russia[10] have reignited debate over the status of the JSDF and their relationship to Japanese society.[16] In the initial phase of the occupation, from 1945 to 1946, SCAP had pursued an ambitious program of social and political reform, designed to ensure that Japan would never again be a threat to world peace.[16] SCAP also sought to empower previously marginalized groups that it believed would have a moderating effect on future militarism, legalizing the Communist and Socialist parties and encouraging the formation of labor unions.[36] In 1983, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone pledged to make Japan an "unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Pacific", assisting the United States in defending against the threat of Soviet bombers.[40] On 18 September 2015, the National Diet enacted the 2015 Japanese military legislation, a series of laws that allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces to defend allies in combat.[47] Since March 2016, Japan's Legislation for Peace and Security enables seamless responses of the JSDF to any situation to protect the lives and livelihood of Japanese citizens.[51] British troops of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) conducted a field exercise together for the first time with Japanese GSDF soldiers in Oyama, Shizuoka prefecture on 2 October 2018.Two JGSDF officers monitored a cease-fire between Israel and Egypt at the Multinational Force and Observers command in the Sinai peninsula from 19 April till 30 November 2019.[58] On 5 May 2022, Japan and the United Kingdom signed a defensive partnership which deepens military ties to counter "autocratic, coercive powers" in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.[62] On 16 December 2022, Japan announced a major policy shift from its exclusively defense-oriented posture by acquiring counterstrike capabilities to hit enemy bases and command-and-control nodes with longer-range standoff missiles and a defense budget increase to 2% of GDP (¥43 trillion ($315 billion) by 2027.[66] NATO and Japan commit to dialogues and cooperation for international rules-based order, and have signed the Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP) "to tackle cross-regional challenges and shared security interests".[83] On 25 July 2018, the Japanese government settled on a 3-year strategy to counter possible cyberattacks against key parts of the nation's infrastructure ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.[65] In 1976, then Prime Minister Miki Takeo announced defense spending should be maintained within 1% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP),[87] a ceiling that was observed until 1986.In August 1999, Japan, Germany and the US governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding of joint research and development on the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.[citation needed] Japan participates in the co-research and development of four Aegis components with the US: the nose cone, the infrared seeker, the kinetic warhead, and the second-stage rocket motor.[97][98] On 30 July 2018, Japan picked Lockheed Martin Corp to build a $1.2 billion radar for two ground-based Aegis ballistic missile defense stations.[99] On the same day, Japan's Defense Ministry said to be considering to withdraw PAC3 missile interceptor units from the country's northern and western region amid an easing of tensions with North Korea.The brigade was established to protect and defend Japanese or Japanese-claimed islands along the edge of the East China Sea as Chinese defense spending and interest in the area rose.[citation needed] The JSDF's disaster relief role is defined in Article 83 of the Self-Defense Forces Law of 1954, requiring units to respond to calls for assistance from prefectural governors to aid in fire suppression, search and rescue, and flood fighting through the reinforcement of embankments and levees.[citation needed] In late June and early July 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his cabinet agreed to lift the long-term ban on engaging Japanese troops abroad, a prohibition dating to the end of the Second World War, in a bid to strengthen Japan's position against growing Chinese military aggression and North Korean nuclear weapons testing.Though these actions were considered to be in accordance with article 9 of the Japanese constitution forbidding the use of war as a means of settling disputes, the government signaled that it may seek to, in the future, reinterpret the prohibition.[108] In June 1992, the National Diet passed a UN Peacekeeping Cooperation Law which permitted the JSDF to participate in UN medical, refugee repatriation, logistical support, infrastructural reconstruction, election-monitoring, and policing operations under strictly limited conditions.Public opinion regarding this deployment was sharply divided, especially given that Japan's military is constitutionally structured as solely a self-defense force, and operating in Iraq seemed at best tenuously connected to that mission.[118] Since 1991, the Japan Self-Defense Forces have conducted international activities to provide support for peacekeeping missions and disaster relief efforts as well as to help prevent conflict and terrorism.[125] When Japan's active and reserve components are combined, the country maintains a lower ratio of military personnel to its population than any member nation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).[121] In 2010, the Sapporo District Court fined the state after a female JASDF member was sexually assaulted by a colleague then forced to retire, while the perpetrator was suspended for 60 days.[128] In 2024, the Japanese Defense Ministry announced that it would allow JSDF recruits to start sporting longer hairstyles beginning in April as part of efforts to increase membership for as long as it did not impede the wearing of headgear and could be tied up without falling into the shoulders.[129] Due to the strong anti-militarism and pacifism pervading Japan in the aftermath of World War II, the JSDF was the subject of public ridicule and disdain in its early years.Between 1984 and 1988, at the request of prefectural governors, the JSDF assisted in approximately 3,100 disaster relief operations, involving about 138,000 personnel, 16,000 vehicles, 5,300 aircraft, and 120 ships and small craft.In addition, the JSDF participated in earthquake disaster prevention operations and disposed of a large quantity of World War II explosive ordnance, especially in Okinawa Prefecture.
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