While it is clear that Japan’s legislative body, the Diet, is empowered in budgeting and oversight mechanisms, there is no consensus on whether the Diet wields actual power in influencing defense policy and whether the Diet’s role in defense policy approaches that of...

This policy brief explains how Japan produces its annual defense white paper and how this publication and other defense reports promote transparency on Japan’s national defense. I outline the process of putting together the white paper and then suggest ways in which the...

This policy brief evaluates the trends in Japan’s space policy directions, and assesses their implications for regional and global security in three parts. First, it focuses on the role of public and private players pivotal to the country’s space directions, and the...

Despite its limited presence in the international arms market, great strides have been made in the Japanese defense industry over the last decade, including development of new transport aircraft, a ballistic missile defense system, and a new class of submarines. While...

In China, discussions of defense transparency usually revolve around China’s defense affairs and those of its counterparts, with little comment on the actions of other countries. This brief touches upon the basic evolution of Japan’s defense transparency and its current...

Domestic strategic preferences among state elites to prioritize economic and technological facets of national security have played a significant role in shaping the foreign policies of many Asian nations. This paper considers the role that elite preferences for economic and...

This brief examines the issue of transparency during and after the period of political dominance by the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) which ruled with only a brief nine-month interruption from 1955–2009. It highlights two related but analytically separate dimensions...

The National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG) is the primary document of Japan’s defense policy, setting both guidelines for defense force planning and outlining the basic principles and policies of Japan’s national security strategy. The most recent NDPG, completed...

Contemporary Japanese approaches to defense transparency are informed by history, relations with external states, the domestic political configuration of institutions, and state–society interactions. Analysts from the Japanese defense establishment agree that greater levels of...

Japan’s defense production model is often seen as a successful exemplar of “techno-nationalism,†especially in the integration of the civilian and military sectors. Hence, Japan’s model has been considered as offering possible lessons for China to emulate in the reform of...