Japan’s defenses are not easy. Dwarfs thrive inside and outside the home. At the national level, the country has long been plagued by a persistent birth rate crisis, making it increasingly difficult to strengthen its Self-Defense Force (JSDF). If that’s not enough of a challenge, the geopolitical scenario beyond its borders is complicated by regional tensions and the possibility of a U.S. turnaround in international politics if Donald Trump wins the November election and returns to the White House.

So your Government made a move: it decided to establish a defence technology research centre inspired by the US model.

Japan, premiere. The news was also reported by local media such as the Kyodo agency. In October, the Japanese Ministry of Defense plans to open a research institute in Tokyo. Yes, a very special one. Its mission will be to bring together talent, draw on the experience of the private sector, and develop defense technologies that can make a difference on the battlefield.

The center is expected to consist of 100 people, with most of its members coming from outside the ministry, companies or universities. To start, the fiscal year budget allocates about 21.7 billion yen (equivalent to $147 million) for its implementation.

You’re looking for your own DARPA. The approach is ambitious. Kyodo explains that Japanese authorities were inspired by the well-known DARPA, the famous United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which has played a major role in the origins of revolutionary technologies such as GPS, the Internet, drones, “utor” military vehicles or meteorological satellites.

The aim: to act as a bridge between the private sector and the government agency responsible for the country’s defense; Tokyo is considering hiring experts in artificial intelligence or robotics engineering, among other key areas.

“Change the rules”. Newspaper in a history of the new technology center South China Morning Post (SCMP) goes even further and assures that the Japanese Government’s goal is to obtain “game-changing” weapons. Which? For now, some areas of work have been completed: the development of unmanned vehicles with artificial intelligence that can move autonomously in the dark, new (and better) ways to detect submarines or hypersonic missiles.

“Advanced multi-use technologies that help build defense equipment,” as defined by the National Defense Strategy 2022.

A matter of profession… and new. The backdrop is Japan’s increased budgetary effort on defense. In April, the Nikkei reported that its authorities had decided to increase spending in this area to 1.6% of GDP, equivalent to $56.7 billion in hard money, although some of that money is being allocated to the Coast Guard and UN operations. All things considered, the investment effort will be significant in 2025 as well.

A complex scenario. The Defense Ministry’s announcement is important, but the context is even more important. Japan has decided to act in a complex scenario marked by regional tensions, disagreements between Seoul and Pyongyang, rising tensions between China and Taiwan against the United States or between Beijing and the Philippines, without taking into account the open dispute between Tokyo and the Asian giant over the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands waters.

When we look at the global board of directorsAdding to this picture are the nuclear weapons possession of China, North Korea and their ally Russia, and the consequences that could follow from Trump’s hypothetical return to the White House in the fall.

“Japan needs to do more for itself,” Kuazuto Suzuki of the University of Tokyo recently said This Week in Asia“We recognize that the United States is our most important ally, but we also recognize that if we do not do enough to protect ourselves, the future government will not be able to help us.” […]”There has been a shift in our thinking that we cannot remain dependent on the United States forever.”

Watch out for the USA. It adds another factor to the perspective of what might happen in US politics in November, remember SCMP: The US’s surprise decision to pause the Next-Generation Air Dominance project for its sixth-generation fighter jet has piqued Japan’s interest because of its potential in combating China. The US has Kadena Air Base in the Pacific Ocean, and the US Marine Corps recently announced that the unit, established at the Japanese naval base on Okinawa late last year, was designed to “counter aggression by the People’s Republic of China”.

An enemy to be defeatedNot all of the challenges Japan’s Defense Ministry faces are abroad. At home, it faces arguably the biggest: a demographic crisis that has driven births to historic lows and made it harder for the Self-Defense Force (JSDF) to bolster its ranks.

By the end of 2023 New York Times Having missed recruitment targets for the army, navy and air force for years, the country’s active forces are estimated to remain at around 247,000 men, almost 10% fewer than in the early 1990s. In fiscal 2023, Defence managed to recruit only 9,959 people for the JSDF, far short of its target of recruiting around 19,600. The head of Defenesa also recently admitted that the prospects were not good: “The situation is expected to remain difficult.”

“We need to turn to technology”Professor Suzuki acknowledges that from this perspective the country is forced to seek solutions: “We need to turn to technology because there is a labor shortage in Japan. We already have a difficult time recruiting enough personnel for the military, and it will probably get worse in the future, so we need to change our minds about how to operate troops and equipment, especially in the maritime field. This is already happening.”

The recently commissioned frigate Noshiro, for example, was designed to operate with two-thirds the crew required by its predecessor, and by at least the end of 2023 it could be operating with even fewer personnel.

To the military or to corporations? To turn things around, Japan needs to stop its fertility crisis and address the competition from the private sector in attracting young talent. “There is very little information that would convince a young college graduate that joining the SDGs is better than getting a job at Toyota,” one expert admits. Japan TimesDespite the increase in the maximum age limit for conscripts and the support for defense investments, thousands of soldiers in the country resign every year.

Image | Miki Yoshihito (Flickr)

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