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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
The complex situation in East Asia and the wider Pacific-Indian Ocean Region is prompting governments to deploy a full range of tools, from economic diplomacy to humanitarian relief operations to declarations of exclusive air space, in their search for a balance between what they consider to be their key national interests and their shared wish to avert open conflict. Tokyo is one of these actors who feel compelled to defend their national interests while at the same time recognizing that war would imply harsh costs, to itself and the region, at many levels, from the human to the economic to the political. While many Asian leaders have expressed the wish to see tensions ease and differences settled without recourse to violence, all understand the high risk of conflict and look to higher levels of military preparedness to enhance their position. Japan is no exception. Japan is unique, however, in moving to reinforce military capabilities despite a restrictive legal and constitutional framework. The development of an amphibious capability by the SDF (Self-Defense Forces), their latest drills featuring among others shore-based anti-ship missile deployment, more frequent joint exercises with the US and appeals to Washington for a firmer position in the Pacific, a push for constitutional change involving the reinterpretation or formal amendment to Article 9, and repeated public references to the late Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, illuminate the military leg in Tokyo's conflict prevention and management strategy. This paper seems to examine these factors, on the understanding that developments in the military sphere are only part of Tokyo's foreign policy towards East-Asia.
1 Alessio Patalano “Japan: Britain of the Far East?”, The Diplomat, 18 January 2011.
2 Private communication to the author, 5 December 2013.
3 James R. Holmes “The Top 5 Navies of the Indo-Pacific”, The Diplomat, 21 January 2013.
4 For a discussion on whether this may be strategically destabilizing, see Alex Calvo “The Third Dimension of Warfare and Tactical Stability in the Senkaku Islands”, Birmingham 111on War”: The blog of the postgraduate students at the Centre for War Studies, University of Birmingham, 9 January 2013.
5 Kyle Mizokami “Japan's Amphibious Buildup”, United States Naval Institute News, 9 October 2013.
6 Kyle Mizokami “Japan's Amphibious Buildup”, United States Naval Institute News, 9 October 2013.
7 Zachary Keck “Japan Might Create Island Assault Unit”, The Diplomat, 15 June 2013.
8 “Japan holds unprecedented military exercise in U.S.”, Asahi Shimbun, 10 June 2013.
9 Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands, (London: Pan Books, 2010), p. 94 and Lawrence Freedman and Virginia Gamba-Stonehouse, Signals of War: The Falklands Conflict of 1982 (London: Faber and Faber, 1990), p. 120.
10 Kyle Mizokami “Japan's Amphibious Buildup”, United States Naval Institute News, 9 October 2013.
11 Kyle Mizokami “Japan's Amphibious Buildup”, United States Naval Institute News, 9 October 2013.
12 Private communication to the author, dated 15 November 2013.
13 “More Ospreys Deploy to Philippines for Typhoon Relief Missions”, American Forces Press Service, 13 November 2013.
14 The MSDF's three Oosumi class vessels are considered to be Landing Ship, Tanks (LSTs) and feature full-length flight decks and a well deck. Each can transport almost a battalion of infantry, plus tanks and other vehicles. Each of these ships can carry two American-built Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), Japan having six of them. Tokyo also has a dozen medium-sized landing crafts, each able to transport around 30 tons of equipment or up to 80 marines from the ship to shore. Kyle Mizokami “Japan's Amphibious Buildup”, United States Naval Institute News, 9 October 2013.
15 Alessio Patalano “Japan's new helicopter destroyer, the imperial navy legacy and the power of a name”, Asahi Shimbun, 22 August 2013.
16 Kyle Mizokami “Japan's Amphibious Buildup”, United States Naval Institute News, 9 October 2013.
17 Koji Sonoda “Japan's new defense guidelines to stipulate amphibious force”, Asahi Shimbun, 12 October 2013.
18 The text also notes that “properly equipping the new unit for the amphibious mission” will be necessary. Interim report by the Defense Posture Review Commission, webiste of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, provisional translation into English.
19 Ayako Mie and Mizuho Aoki “Nation's troops long way from hitting the beaches: experts”, The Japan Times, 1 August 2013.
20 Ayako Mie and Mizuho Aoki “Nation's troops long way from hitting the beaches: experts”, The Japan Times, 1 August 2013.
21 Shigemi Sato “Japan readies island war games amid YouTube PR push”, AFP, 24 October 2013.
22 For a discussion on whether Japan should develop, as part of her Marine force, a police capability to deal with landings by civilians or mixed landings by military and civilian forces, please see Alex Calvo, “From ‘Three Blocks’ to ‘Three Islands’“, Small Wars Journal, 18 November 2013.
23 “Japan's Latest Military Exercise Sends a Message to China”, Stratfor, 25 October 2013.
24 Map taken from Eric Sayers “A day trip to Miyako-jima”, Information Dissemination, 18 January 2011.
25 Map taken from “China's Air Defense Zone Announcement Angers and Alarms Japan”, Foreign Confidential, 25 November 2013.
26 I. Inskip, Ordeal by Exocet: HMS Glamorgan and the Falklands War 1982, (London: Frontline Books, 2012).
27 Following the attack against HMS Glamorgan, the Royal Navy quickly installed the Phalanx system in its ships. H. Bicheno, Razor's Edge. The Unofficial History of the Falklands War, (London: Phoenix, 2007), p. 131.
28 Source of the picture: here.
29 Source of the picture: here.
30 Picture taken from “Duke of York in Japan to speak at RUSI conference”, website of the UK Government, 3 October 2013.
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