The terrorist attacks Friday in Paris highlight the need for Japan to be on high alert as it prepares to host such high-profile events as next year's Group of Seven summit and the 2020 Summer Olympics.

While the risk of the Islamic State group staging coordinated attacks on Japanese soil is lower than in Europe, due to its distance from the Middle East and the lack of Japanese military involvement in the region, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "proactive pacifism" policy has made Japan more visible in the eyes of terrorists, experts say.

Two Japanese — Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa — were murdered by the extremist group in Syria in January after a hostage crisis that dragged on for weeks. In October, 66-year-old Japanese farmer Kunio Hoshi was killed by gunmen in Bangladesh. While authorities deny his slaying was linked to Islamic extremists, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the act, just as it did in Paris.

Hoshi's death came after Japan had tightened security at all embassies after learning of an Islamic State threat in September that named "Japanese diplomatic missions" as potential targets.

"I consider the risk to Japan to be very low, but not negligible," said James Simpson, a Tokyo-based analyst and contributor to Jane's Defence Weekly. "Japan's existing strict immigration protocols make attacks on Japanese soil quite unlikely, but Japanese abroad are certainly vulnerable to attack — like the ISIS-claimed attack in Bangladesh."

ISIS is one of several names used to describe the Islamic State group.

Masanori Naito, a Middle Eastern affairs expert and professor at the graduate school of global studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto, said the enactment in September of security laws that allow the Self-Defense Forces to come to an aid of an ally under armed attack could make Japan a direct target of Islamic State in the long term.

"It will take more time," Naito said. "But with the passing of the security legislation, and if a new U.S. administration elected by the presidential election decides to engage in military action in the Middle East, to which Japan may offer logistic support, the chances of terrorism against Japan will be greater.

"The Islamic State group has already identified Japan as part of the 'Coalition of the Willing.' It's therefore up to the Japanese government's actions in the future to determine the degree of risk for Japan," he said.

Yutaka Takaoka, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Institution of Japan, said Japan could be a "reasonable target" for the Islamic State group because of its relatively strong speech and media freedoms, which mean any acts of terrorism can be widely disseminated and aid its goal of spreading terror.

Experts say Japan has a lot to do ahead of the upcoming international events.

On Monday, in the wake of the Paris attacks, which killed at least 129 and injured 350, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga vowed to boost anti-terrorism measures.

"A series of big international events are scheduled in Japan, starting with the G-7 meeting next year," Suga said. "We will have the 2019 Rugby World Cup, as well as the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. We would like to take the terrorist attacks this time as a turning point through which to boost our security measures."

He pledged to boost Japan's intelligence-gathering capabilities and beef up security at ports, airports and other facilities.

Yoshio Omori, a security expert and president of Nihon Bunka University in Tokyo, said the security measures to date for the G-7 Summit are far from enough.

"I don't think there's a single person who considers that Japan is doing enough," Omori, a former official with the National Police Agency, said. "For one, Japan is critically vulnerable when it comes to gathering intelligence. It lacks the ability to single-handedly identify who the international terrorists are."

Omori said Japan relies on allies such as the United States for information on terrorists.

To strengthen security, he said the government could attempt to use advanced surveillance technologies such as facial recognition. But that will be of no use if the nation lacks a terrorist database to begin with.

Simpson said Japan is most vulnerable at public events.

"Despite having experience with terrorism through Aum Shinrikyo and leftist/rightist extremists, Japan's security presence on the ground is still lacking," Simpson said. "Should potential attackers get through immigration and manage to source weapons and explosives, Japan remains terribly vulnerable to attacks similar to the recent events in Paris."

He added that Japan could end up spending a fortune guarding against security threats at the upcoming events.

"Japan needs to look very carefully at France and the U.K., as well as other nations as it prepares to host several major international events," he said. "Its previous experiences with the 2010 APEC summit in Yokohama and the FIFA World Cup (in 2002) have shown a preference for increased security checkpoints and an overwhelming police presence. These come at exceptional cost to the country and the hosting prefectures and cities."