Defense Spending Set to Top ¥9 Trillion: Vigilant Monitoring of Western Pacific Is Needed

Editorial

16:21 JST, January 11, 2026

Although national budgets tend to be rigid, Japan’s defense spending has seen a 70% increase over the past four years, surpassing ¥9 trillion for the first time. This situation is noteworthy.

The government has included ¥9.0353 trillion for defense spending in its initial budget proposal for fiscal 2026.

Defense spending hovered from ¥4 trillion to below ¥6 trillion for many years. However, the administration of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approved plans to inject a total of ¥43 trillion into the defense budgets over five years from fiscal 2023 amid the deteriorating security environment surrounding Japan. The latest defense budget is for the fourth year under these plans.

One notable point of the fiscal 2026 budget is funding for measures to respond to new forms of combat.

Specifically, ¥100 billion has been allocated for a coastal defense plan under which drones will be used to protect islands. This plan involves measures such as deploying attack drones in the air and unmanned surface vessels at sea to halt invading enemy forces.

The aim of the plan is to defend territory while minimizing human casualties.

With Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the two countries have deployed large numbers of drones for both attacks and defense. The active use of drones by the Self-Defense Forces is timely.

However, Japan lacks the infrastructure to manufacture high-performance drones. Even though the nation relies on imports for the time being, it is important to strengthen drone production capabilities through the new plan and connect such efforts to fostering the defense industry. The nation also should expedite training to operate numerous drones.

Japan’s defense policy so far has centered on missile defense. The country has deployed control radars primarily on the Sea of Japan side, with Chinese and North Korean missiles in mind. As a result, the Pacific side of Japan has become a radar blind spot.

China has recently deployed aircraft carriers in the western Pacific. Late last year, Chinese and Russian military bombers conducted a joint flight from around Okinawa Prefecture toward Tokyo.

The government intends to advance work to install a mobile surveillance radar on Kita-Daitojima Island in Okinawa Prefecture. It also plans to start research on establishing a port on Tokyo’s Iwoto Island to enable cargo transport, with an eye to constructing a full-scale runway there in the future.

Protecting Japan’s interests on the Pacific side can be called an urgent task.

When the government approved its current Defense Buildup Program, it also decided to secure certain funds by raising taxes. However, there have been delays in implementing the tax hikes. The corporate and tobacco taxes are now planned to be raised in April, while income tax increases must wait until next year.

The delays are attributed to a sense of caution toward the tax hikes within the Liberal Democratic Party, which was mindful of a possible election.

Given the deteriorating security environment, it is inevitable to increase defense spending further. It is problematic if politics continues to avoid discussions on securing the necessary funding.

 (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 11, 2026)