Japan Not Included in Analyst's List Of Top US Allies

[Mulboyne]

[IparryU]

[Yokohammer]

"The need for the US alliance is not clear. Japan has more than the necessary resources to defend itself, but spends less than 1% of GDP on defense."

I thought part of the reason for the US presence here was to minimize the need for Japan to increase its defense spending (i.e. to prevent a military buildup).

[wagyl]

The view that the presence of US forces perpetuates old territorial issues and is a disincentive to their pragmatic resolution is an interesting one. I note that he makes a similar statement regarding the US forces in Germany and Italy.

However, his arguments regarding the 1% GDP cap on Defence, I beg your pardon Self Defence spending, is disingenuous: this was set by the US in the constitution it imposed on Japan postwar. I am not saying that the US set that figure so that it could have an easy excuse to withdraw its forces from Japan 60 years later, only that it does nothing to help US Japan relations to suggest that Japan is deliberately refusing to pull its own weight.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

This is tremendously insightful and so good it's bound to be totally ignored by anybody who matters.

It should be noted that Japanese taxpayers (yes, you and me, too) largely foot the bill for USFJ (albeit with 60% of the money it pays used to support Japanese civilian workers), but the Untied States' presence in this cuntry keeps Japan on a leash that puts many other cuntries in the Asia-Pacific region at ease, particularly as the insidious rise of back-door nationalism has grown steadily and covertly over the past 15 years or so.

BTW, wagyl, there's nothing in Japan's Constitution about defense spending. In fact, the only defense-related matter in the Constitution is Article Nine, in which Japan renounces the right to wage war or use force to solve international conflict. Constitutionally, the Japanese shouldn't even have an army, navy or air force: they are explicitly banned (but apparently OK if you don't call your forces by those names). Yet, even after most Western nations have been at war for at least some time over the past decade or so, Japan remains one of the world's top spenders on defense. (I'm not entirely sure the 1% figure still applies, but even if it does, we're still talking about enormous sums of money that dwarf budgets in cuntries almost perpetually in armed conflict of some sort.)

[wagyl]

Humble pie on the menu for me today!!!

I am aware that the 1% cap (now apparently 3%: a 300% increase, the warmongers!!!) of GDP is still a massive spend, way beyond most other country's defense budgets, and it is correct for you to emphasise that fact.

The whole history of how the JSDF came about is a fascinating one. Destroying the power of the military was a major aim of the occupation. The self defence function was given to a special part of the police force, until nascent Cold War concerns, not least on the Korean peninsula, gave rise to the view that it should be administered separately from the police.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

The whole history of how the JSDF came about is a fascinating one...

Absolutely agree! But also think it's criminal.
Japanese military spending is a dirty little secret. I wasn't aware it was now at 3%, but it doesn't surprise me, nor will it surprise any more when it goes up again in the future. The 1% figure was never anything more than an arbitrary decision the LDP made.
Article 9 pisses me off...there's debate over changing it, but Constitutional discussion is merely Japanese bullshit grandstanding. I utterly dismiss any Constitutional debate in Japan because Article 9 clearly shows that they simply don't give a fuck what their Basic Law says and will interpret it at their own convenience with their every move rubber-stamped by a complying, complicit, cowering judiciary.
Rant over!

[Coligny]

The John Milius reference keep me sceptical... in a non sequitur kind of way...

btw... 1%... 3%... that's irrelevant... that's what you buy that is...

Someone got a link to the actual af/n/g power directory ? what is their doctrine anyway ? do they even know ?

from memory they have nothing really long flying range a shitload of helo carriers and aegis cruiser, some mbt and howitzers... but i dont remember them having coastal defense system like the russian bereg howitzers... which would totally sound like a good idea to have in their case...

[matsuki]

Constitutionally, the Japanese shouldn't even have an army, navy or air force: they are explicitly banned (but apparently OK if you don't call your forces by those names)

Article 9 pisses me off...there's debate over changing it, but Constitutional discussion is merely Japanese bullshit grandstanding. I utterly dismiss any Constitutional debate in Japan because Article 9 clearly shows that they simply don't give a fuck what their Basic Law says and will interpret it at their own convenience with their every move rubber-stamped by a complying, complicit, cowering judiciary.
Rant over!

Just like every law/rule/etc. here.....more like guidelines than anything else, free for interpretation and applicable as you see fit UNLESS you're FG

[IparryU]

Humble pie on the menu for me today!!!

I am aware that the 1% cap (now apparently 3%: a 300% increase, the warmongers!!!) of GDP is still a massive spend, way beyond most other country's defense budgets, and it is correct for you to emphasise that fact.

The whole history of how the JSDF came about is a fascinating one. Destroying the power of the military was a major aim of the occupation. The self defence function was given to a special part of the police force, until nascent Cold War concerns, not least on the Korean peninsula, gave rise to the view that it should be administered separately from the police.

so the went from cub scouts to boy scouts?