Japan's 'neo-militarism' emerges as tangible threat requiring vigilance

In recent years, Japan's right-wing factions have intensified efforts to advance a more covert and deceptive form of "neo-militarism."

Framed under the guise of "peace" and "defense," this ideology fundamentally seeks to dismantle Japan's post-WWII constraints and transform the nation into a military power capable of overseas force projection.

Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi assumed office, this agenda has accelerated markedly. Across political, military, diplomatic and ideological domains, Japan has repeatedly sought to break through the constraints of its pacifist Constitution and the post-war international order, pushing forward ever faster and further with its rearmament.

Evidence confirms that Japan's "neo-militarism" now constitutes not merely a concerning trend but an actionable threat. Regional neighbors and the international community must heighten awareness and implement measures to counter its proliferation.

Japan's current "neo-militarism" represents the stubborn resurgence and distorted evolution of militarist ideology in the modern era. While retaining the expansionist genes of traditional militarism, it has developed new, highly deceptive characteristics.

Politically, administrative power has become deeply intertwined with major business conglomerates, enabling the pursuit of military expansion under the cover of democratic procedures.

Militarily, instead of openly advocating aggression, it advances step by step through a "salami-slicing" tactics, attempting to loosen military constraints while maintaining the appearance of "compliance".

Economically, a symbiotic relationship has emerged between rearmament and major corporate interests, effectively transferring wealth from ordinary citizens to military-industrial interest groups.

Culturally, "neo-militarism" has repackaged itself by incorporating rhetoric such as "freedom," "democracy" and "human rights" as supposed universal values, while exploiting social media algorithms and opinion manipulation to construct information "echo chambers".

Diplomatically, Japan continues a geopolitical strategy marked by opportunism and confrontation.

The emergence of Japan's "neo-militarism" results from interrelated factors: the lingering influence of militarist ideology, the dominance of radical political forces, the distortion of social and economic anxieties, and the active promotion of vested interest groups.

First, Japan never fully eradicated militarism. Unlike Germany's comprehensive denazification, Japan's post-war democratization remained incomplete under U.S. Cold War strategy, allowing remnants of militarism to persist within political structures.

Second, Japan's political landscape has shifted rightward. Since the end of the Cold War -- particularly in recent years -- structural changes have taken place in Japan's political ecology, with right-wing conservative forces occupying the core of state power and gradually transforming far-right ideology into national policy and legislative action.

Third, prolonged economic stagnation has generated strategic anxiety. Under the combined pressures of massive public debt, industrial hollowing-out and demographic decline, Japan's economy has struggled for decades, with its per capita GDP ranking slipping from the global forefront to the middle-lower tier among developed economies. To divert attention from domestic governance challenges, right-wing politicians have increasingly resorted to exaggerating a so-called "China threat."

Fourth, vested interests profit from military expansion. As Japan's defense policy has shifted in a more aggressive direction, defense spending has risen for 14 consecutive years from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2026. In particular, it doubled within three years after 2022, generating large orders for Japan's defense industry. Data show that since November 2022, the share price of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has surged by more than 650 percent, IHI Corporation by over 480 percent, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries by more than 280 percent.

Since the establishment of the government led by Takaichi, the push toward "neo-militarism" has clearly accelerated and entered a dangerous stage of systematic implementation.

Politically and legally, war's final barriers are being dismantled. Backed by the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and far-right allies forming what has been described as the most conservative governing coalition since the World War II, the Takaichi administration has strengthened its right-wing power base while laying the groundwork for constitutional revision through persistent "crisis narratives."

At the level of military strategy, the government seeks to build an independent offensive capability. The fiscal 2026 defense budget has been pushed beyond 9 trillion yen ($56.61 billion), another record high, reaching the target of 2 percent of GDP ahead of schedule. Massive funding targets multiple offensive systems, revealing accelerated expansion ambitions.

Economically, a "new military-industrial complex" rapidly takes shape. The administration elevated military preparedness to national priority, strongly supporting defense-linked interest groups.

Societally, historical revisionism intensifies. Japan's right-wing forces are doubling down on efforts to remold public memory -- whitewashing wartime aggression in school textbooks, promoting a "loyalty to the emperor" education, and systematically replacing self-reflection on past atrocities with a self-serving "victimhood" narrative that seeks to sever ties with history of aggression.

As early as 1994 -- one year after she was first elected to Japan's parliament -- Takaichi publicly questioned then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's acknowledgment of Japan's wrongful war of aggression.

In 2007, serving in the cabinet of Shinzo Abe, she became the only cabinet minister to visit the Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, in a move widely seen as catering to right-wing forces. She has also repeatedly denied the Nanjing Massacre and the coercion of "comfort women," even attempting to portray Japan's war of aggression as a "war of self-defense."

In September 2021, she advanced the claim that a "Taiwan contingency" would pose a threat to Japan. In November 2025, while serving as prime minister, she further alleged in parliamentary debate that a "Taiwan contingency" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, and has kept refusing to retract the remarks. More recently, she has openly stated that she is working to create conditions to visit Yasukuni Shrine again.

From early rhetorical probing to today's systematic political maneuvering, Takaichi has played a key role in promoting this "neo-militarism," acting as a dangerous accelerator pushing Japan back toward a path of militaristic expansion.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the trials of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. That historic tribunal represented not only a just reckoning with the crimes of Japanese militarism but also an important step toward building a peaceful world.

Today, Japan's "neo-militarism" poses a serious, tangible threat to regional and global stability. The deep-rooted structural problems in Japan's political system and the dangerous trajectory of its strategic policies cannot be ignored.

The international community must remain vigilant, jointly safeguard the outcomes of victory in World War II, and build an unbreakable line of justice. The dangerous forces behind Japan's "neo-militarism" must not be allowed to wreak havoc again, and the sunlight of peace must never again be overshadowed by the clouds of war.