Japan's new security policy: The implication of three strategic documents

Abstract: In December 2022, the Japanese government released the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Force Development Plan. Along with these so-called three strategic documents, the Japanese government moved its defense policy into a new phase, including increasing the defense budget to 2 percent of GDP and having a long-range counterattack capability. This seminar will discuss the background of this policy change and what it means for the Japan-U.S. alliance, including the thinking on the division of roles between the U.S. and Japan.

Bio: Dr. Nobumasa Akiyama is a professor at the Graduate School of Law and the Graduate School of International and Public Policy at Hitotsubashi University in Japan, and an adjunct research fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. His other professional appointments include memberships in various governmental consultative groups and study groups at the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of Japan, and advisor to the Japanese delegation to the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conferences. Professor Akiyama has published extensively and presented papers at various conferences on nonproliferation, Japan's national security, and nuclear energy. He also worked on the review of the Fukushima nuclear accident as a leader of the working group for the Independent Commission on the Investigation of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, initiated by a private think tank, the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation.