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Japan's defense buildup
Strategy Dec 2022; 2% of GDP goal· Issue or flashpoint
FactTreaties, membership, measured data, events.
Japan's push since 2022 to double defense spending to 2% of GDP and acquire long-range 'counterstrike' missiles, a break with postwar restraint.
See it on the Geopolitics map →The picture
In December 2022 Japan adopted three security documents: ¥43 trillion (about $300 billion) for fiscal 2023–27, a goal of 2% of GDP including related spending, and 'counterstrike' missiles able to hit launch sites abroad, including up to 400 US Tomahawks. A Joint Operations Command opened in March 2025. Prime Minister Takaichi hit the 2% goal in fiscal 2025, two years early; the fiscal 2026 budget tops ¥9 trillion. In April 2026 Japan scrapped rules limiting arms exports to non-lethal categories.
Why it matters
A top-five world economy is becoming a major military power again, shifting the balance with China and North Korea and the division of labor inside the US alliance.
Key facts and numbers
Japan's National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Defense Buildup Program (December 2022), annual Defense Ministry budgets, and cabinet decisions on arms exports. As of 2026.
What to watch
Outlook: how Japan pays for it (tax hikes keep being postponed), whether the end-2026 strategy revision sets a 3%-plus target, and debate over its non-nuclear principles.
Connections (2)
▸Japan's defense buildup strengthens US–Japan allianceWidely agreed
The relationship
Japan's buildup shifts the alliance from 'US spear, Japanese shield' toward shared roles. Japan is buying US Tomahawks for counterstrike, created a Joint Operations Command and co-produces missiles with the US, while US Forces Japan is being upgraded into a joint command to work alongside it.
Since when and why
Agreed at US–Japan '2+2' meetings of defense and foreign ministers in 2023–24; Japan's Joint Operations Command opened in March 2025.
How solid?
US–Japan joint statements, Pentagon and Japanese Defense Ministry announcements, and US State Department approval of the Tomahawk sale.
What to watch
Whether Washington demands more, such as 3.5% of GDP, and higher host-nation payments when the current cost-sharing deal expires in March 2027.
▸Sanae Takaichi accelerated Japan's defense buildupFact
The relationship
Takaichi sped up the buildup: she reached the 2% of GDP target in fiscal 2025, two years ahead of plan, through a supplementary budget; approved a record defense budget above ¥9 trillion for fiscal 2026; scrapped limits on lethal arms exports in April 2026; and ordered a rewrite of Japan's security strategy by end-2026.
Since when and why
Tokyo, from her October 24, 2025 policy speech; Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi carries out the plans.
How we know
Cabinet budget decisions, the revised arms-export guidelines and the government's timetable for revising its three security documents.
What to watch
How to fund it without tax rises, and whether the new strategy revisits Japan's three non-nuclear principles; critics fear it, and she has not ruled it out.