In recent years, Japan has faced increased threats from various directions: from Russia to the north and China and North Korea to the west.
No wonder, as American political scientist and professor John Mearsheimer once put it, Japan’s defense posture needs to be more like Godzilla and less like Bambi.
This quandary is not new. In fact, for decades, the nation has been on a trajectory of adopting a more muscular defense posture. What is new, however, is Japan’s focus on Taiwan and the possibility that Tokyo could intervene in a future conflict in the Taiwan Strait.