By Yuki Tatsumi
It’s misleading to interpret Japan’s record-high defense budget as a sign of “remilitarization.”
On August 31, the Japan Ministry of Defense (JMOD) released its defense budget request for Fiscal Year 2016 [PDF]. Having been submitted to the Ministry of Finance, the budget will be finalized by December.
Immediately after the announcement, some media reports emphasized that Japan’s FY2016 budget was at a record high since the end of World War II.
True, Japan’s defense budget proposal for FY2016 would see defense spending at its highest level since the end of World War II: the total request amounts to 5.09 trillion yen ($42.8 billion). It is also true that Japan’s defense spending has continued to rise since FY2013. However, to interpret this trend as a sign of “Japan remilitarizing” is too simplistic and even misleading.
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