Russia’s war against Ukraine has prompted Japan to rethink its approach to security: even with allied guarantees from the United States, developing its own defense capabilities and taking more active deterrence measures are essential.
This was stated by Associate Professor Tsuyoshi Goroku of Nihon University during an online speech at the VI Ukraine–Japan Forum, “Restoring a Rules-Based World Order: The Role of Ukraine and Japan in Global Security,” Ukrinform reports.
“Ukraine has greatly influenced Japanese perceptions of security guarantees. You know that for half a century we have had security guarantees under Article 5 of the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty (1960). We see how important these guarantees are because Russia continues attacks on Ukraine while avoiding direct aggression against NATO countries. But this war has also shown us that simply being in an alliance is not enough,” Goroku said.
According to him, one reason the Japanese admire the courage of Ukrainians in resisting Russian aggression is that “in fact, in war, help comes only to those who help themselves.”
“For you, this may be obvious, but after many years of heavy reliance on the United States for security, it was easy for us to forget this. Now, this insight significantly influences Japan’s current security strategy, which we developed during the first year of Russia’s war against Ukraine and adopted in December 2022. Based on this strategy, we are pursuing efforts in three areas: expanding our own defense capabilities, increasing the defense budget, and maintaining adequate operational capacity,” the scholar noted.
He emphasized that this shift in security policy should not be seen as distancing Japan from the U.S. According to Goroku, the alliance remains vital to Japan’s security, and Japan seeks to strengthen both the alliance itself and public confidence in it in a “more integrated manner.”
In this context, he recalled that Japan has expanded bilateral security and defense cooperation with countries such as Australia, the Philippines, and European nations, including Ukraine.
“Of course, these measures do not replace security guarantees, but they are recognized as deterrence efforts. Accordingly, they represent additional measures and a very logical response by Japan to the deteriorating security environment,” Goroku said.
