January 8, 2026

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

In the three key national security-related documents approved by the Cabinet at the end of 2022, the government decided to possess an enemy base attack capability in violation of the Constitution and a plan to allocate a military budget of 43 trillion yen over the next five years from fiscal 2023. The government led by Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae includes the largest-ever military expenditure of nine trillion yen in the initial budget bill for FY 2026, the fourth year of the massive military expansion plan.

Before the three key documents were approved, the military budget was generally kept below less than 1% of GDP. However, the three documents set up a target of doubling defense spending and related expenses to 2% by fiscal 2027.

PM Takaichi in her policy speech to the October 2025 extraordinary Diet session indicated her intent to achieve the 2% target within FY2025, two years ahead of schedule, and to revise the three documents in 2026. This was because U.S. President Trump who was pressing Japan to boost its military spending was scheduled to visit Tokyo.

Takaichi in a meeting with Trump in October 2025 promised to increase Japan’s defense budget. After that, with the passage of the supplementary budget in the extraordinary Diet session, combined with the initial FY 2025 budget, the total amount of defense spending and related costs reached eleven trillion yen, hitting 2% of GDP. “A simple calculation shows that each Japanese citizen will be forced to bear a burden of more than 90,000 yen annually.” (Tokyo Shimbun editorial on January 5)

PM Takaichi intends to revise the three key national security-related documents in justification of achieving the 2% goal and to further push forward with military expansion.

The U.S. Trump administration calls on Japan to raise its military spending to 3.5% of GDP. Calculated based on the GDP data for 2024, 3.5% amounts to 21 trillion yen, meaning the annual burden on the general public would exceed 170,000 yen per person.

Past related articles:
> With supplementary budget passage, DPP and Komeito demonstrate their role as supplementary forces useful to LDP-Ishin coalition gov’t [
December 17, 2025]
> PM Takaichi agrees with President Trump on elevating Japan-US alliance to new heights [October 28, 2025]