A different Japan is emerging in Asia- The global geopolitical chaos is forcing a normalisation of the country’s defence posture

3 comments

1. This was bound to happen, as Japan, and I guess especially the LDP had wanted Japan to become a “normal country” for a while. That is, a country with a military that has the “right to belligerence”, which is necessarily to have its own independent foreign policy. And this was before China was considered to be a threat.

   It was long in the making, but also the timing was “perfect”, as the US is exiting from providing military support in the region, and also that Europe is wanting to have closer alliances to secure their defenses, as they also can’t rely on the US anymore.

2. And to think this is all because an orange pedophile was elected an ocean away.

3. This kind of geopolitics-first analysis always miss the immense social dimension that this “normalization” will bring. Postwar Japan is the special kind of country we know because of its “abnormal” defense posture. What comes next will be more similar to France or the United Kingdom alright, but it will certainly lose something in the process as its peculiar way of life is forced to change. How will it handle nationalism? How will lit upkeep its decaying infrastructure and welfare institutions along increased defense expenses PLUS a greying population and high resistance to immigration (which when coupled with nationalism becomes anathema)? And so on. This “normalization” discourse is rotten to the core, and in the process of becoming “normal,” Japan will become worse off. I wish their leaders were honest with their people.

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