Abstract
The security environment surrounding Japan grows ever more complex
and diversified, combining traditional and non- traditional security challenges as never before. China’s robust and growing antiaccess/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities and North Korea’s burgeon- ing nuclear weapons arsenal are dire threats to Japan’s economic survival and very existence. In addition, a wide array of nontraditional threats, including transnational terrorism, drug traf- ficking, and persistent attacks in the cyber do- main, undermine  the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. Recently, natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and pandemics, have proved much more deadly and almost always require military responses in the form of humanitarian assistance / disaster relief (HA/DR) operations. If Japan is to meet these challenges as well as fulfill its duties as a “responsible stakeholder,” the roles, missions, and force structure of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) must be modernized.
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