Abstract
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic April visit to Washington capped the most significant two-year period in Japan’s defense reform in decades. Since his unlikely return as prime minister in December 2012, Abe has declared that “Japan is back,” expressed his desire for it to be a “first-tier” power, and sketched out an ambitious vision for a U.S.–Japan “Alliance of Hope.”¹With the April announcement of new Guidelines for U.S.–Japan Defense Cooperation and two major security bills currently under debate in Japan’s Diet, 2015 is already a historic year for Japanese defense policy and the U.S.–Japan alliance.²
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