Japan's Security Posture in Asia: Changing tactics or strategy?

Recent and on-going shifts in Japan’s military security are once again stirring the debate about whether Japan’s security posture is set for radical change. Will Japan move away from its comprehensive security policy that directly links security to politics, economics – and, more recently, to the environment and individuals – and rather opt for the more traditional military security approach, familiar in the United States? Certainly, a casual observer could be forgiven for interpreting recent changes on Japan’s security and defence policy agenda as a sign of such change. In December 2010 Japan’s Security Council and the Cabinet adopted new defense guidelines aiming for a transformation towards a “dynamic defense force”. A year later the decades-old weapons export ban was eased and plans to relax curbs on the use of military force by Japan’s Self-Defense Force units engaged in UN peacekeeping operations are currently being discussed. Japan’s greater assertiveness in the military security field is also discernable in relations with other countries. The United States and Japan have in recent years and on various occasions underlined the importance of the US-Japan security alliance, agreeing to intensify defense cooperation and security in Asia. At the same time Tokyo is strengthening defense ties with other countries in the region, including Australia and India. While these are clear signals that the Japanese government is slowly but steadily broadening its approach towards security, this does not necessarily imply that Japan is substantially altering its traditional comprehensive security approach. Indeed, recent policies towards North Korea, Iran, Myanmar/Burma and Afghanistan, as well as new security issues on the regional and global agenda suggest that Tokyo is not shifting away from its longtime comprehensive security policy. New activism on the military security front is accompanied by an enhanced government posture on economic security, characterized by a greater willingness to take a more outspoken and obstructionist stance, as well as renewed investments in economic diplomacy that also aim to enhance sustainable development and regional stability. Political-economic thinking among Japanese elites thus remains an essential part of