Japan is working to overcome legal restrictions and procedural problems related to its defense strategy.

With tensions in Asia growing, the greatest risks involve low-intensity conflicts rather than full-scale military attacks. But critics say that Japan's dependence on the policing function of the Coast Guard or Self-Defense Forces isn't enough to respond swiftly and effectively to such threats.

Low-intensity conflicts, also called gray zone scenarios, fall short of full-scale military attacks but can pose major security problems. In Japan, these potential attacks are viewed as a dilemma because they are too big to be addressed by one or the other, but might fall short of the conditions that would be required to launch an armed response by the SDF, which requires aggression deemed as a premeditated attack by a sovereign nation.