Japan’s National Defense Strategy in the Takaichi Era

YCAPS is excited to announce the next event in the Community Conversations seminar series in the Iwakuni Community! This event will feature Dr. Adam P. Liff, Professor of East Asian International Relations at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, who will guide us in a discussion on Japan's National Defense Strategy in the Takaichi Era. In December 2022, Japan’s leaders made global headlines when they announced a historic revision of Japan’s national defense strategy. That strategy, still in effect, was as remarkable for its substantive ambition and breadth as for what it revealed about leaders’ growing alarm about the rapidly worsening security environment surrounding Japan. Less than four years later, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has already announced plans for another major revision by the end of 2026, years ahead of schedule. This talk will introduce key elements of Japan’s national defense strategy and highlight current political debates in Japan about what comes next. The combination of rapidly shifting geopolitics, the worsening threat environment facing Japan, and the concentration of political power in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party following its overwhelming February election victory all carry important implications for Japan’s defense policy and, by extension, the U.S.-Japan alliance.