Military Efforts and Spending

The military budget of
Japan is allocated to
the expenses of the
Japanese Self Defense Forces.

Military Budget

For 2015, Japan's published military budget was 4.98 trillion yen, which is approximately $42 billion USD, and roughly 1 percent of the country's GDP. The budget requested for the following year was approximately a 2.2 percent increase in this budget. 

Chinese and North Korean Threat

With the rising threat from North Korea and an expanding China, Japan has recently been proposing to increase the military budget for the 7th consecutive year in a row. 

In August of 2018, the Japanese government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved to increase the military budget by 2.1%. This increase would mean a budget of 5.2 trillion yen, or around $47.6 billion USD. 

Tokyo explained that greater defense was needed to deal with the increasingly severe security environment, specifically in regards to North Korea and China. Nevertheless, Japan's budget is little compared that that of the country's close ally, the United States, which for 2019 was requested to be $686 billion.

Although the tensions between Japan and North Korea have seemed to diffuse after the summits in the first half of 2018, Japan is taking no chances. A defense paper stated, "military trends in North Korea pose an unprecedentedly serious and imminent threat to Japan's security, and significantly damage the peace and security of the region and the international community."

Regarding China, the defense paper said, "China's rapid modernization of the People's Liberation Army, enhancement of operational capabilities, and unilateral escalation of activities in areas close to Japan are generating strong security concerns in the region and international community, including Japan."

See Japan's Military to learn more.