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Our incentives have changed. At the time, the US was afraid of Japan (and justifiably so). But US military presence in Japan for the last half-century has meant
by copsarebastards 11y ago
Our incentives have changed. At the time, the US was afraid of Japan (and justifiably so). But US military presence in Japan for the last half-century has meant that the Japan doesn't have to invest any money in security: they have instead invested that money in becoming one of the strongest economies in the world. And that has happened, to a large extent, at the expense of US taxpayers. The interdependence of our economies makes the US less afraid of Japan trying to take over the world, and the US economy is no longer strong enough to be propping up the economies of other nations.
- scribu 11y ago> US military presence in Japan for the last half-century has meant that the Japan doesn't have to invest any money in security Wikipedia seems to disagree with you [1]: > In 1976, then Prime Minister Miki Takeo announced defense spending should be maintained within 1% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP), a ceiling that was observed until 1986. As of 2005, Japan's military budget was maintained at about 3% of the national budget; about half is spent on personnel costs, while the rest is for weapons programs, maintenance and operating costs. As of 2013, Japan currently has the fifth largest defense budget in the world. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces#Budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces#Budg...
- copsarebastards 11y agoOkay, I think my point was obvious, but if you want to be pedantic, yes, I should have said "Japan doesn't have to invest much money in security". Yes, Japan does have the fifth largest defense budget in the world, but when you consider that the US defense budget it more than the defense budgets of the next 10 spenders combined, it's not really that much for such a large economy. Also worth noting, the US maintains significant military presence in most of the world's top military-spending countries. For obvious reasons, China and Russia have very little military US military presence, but Saudi Arabia, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, and South Korea all have significant US military presence on their soil.
- scribu 11y agoThanks. I agree with your larger point, but wanted to clarify this detail, because I've seen people around the web saying that Japan actually has no security forces whatsoever.
- mahranch 11y agoTo clarify your point, they don't. They have a self-defense force. They lack any serious offensive power since they focus on mostly defensive armaments. There are also pretty big differences between Japan's SDF and a modern military. Only scraping the surface here, but members of the SDF can leave at any time, for any reason since it's a purely volunteer position. This weakens their military. They are afraid of being too hard on solidiers because if they are, they'll leave. This means you have an army of weak soliders who may not have the proper skills or training that an army like the U.S or China has. This is why they need to be allowed to have a military. A country should be able to defend itself and the strongest defense, is a powerful and potent offense.
- copsarebastards 11y ago> A country should be able to defend itself and the strongest defense, is a powerful and potent offense. Ugh. Thousands of Americans died in September 11, which is the obvious result of American military action in the Middle East, and thousands more died in the following wars. You can't just go around killing people and assume that they're not going to attack you back. The best defense is a good foreign policy that avoids conflict in the first place.