From China’s growing military assertiveness to North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling, new Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada will have his work cut out for him from day one as he confronts a number of looming challenges.
But the most pressing issue Hamada, 66, will be shepherding through some of the biggest changes in Japanese defense policy in nearly a decade. The new defense chief will be spearheading revisions to the National Security Strategy and other key security documents before the year’s end that will lay the foundation for the country’s defense policy for potentially years to come.
In tapping Hamada for the role, however, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is putting a lawmaker with vast experience on defense issues into the post. Hamada, a 10-term Lower House lawmaker representing Chiba Prefecture, previously served as defense chief between 2008 and 2009 in the administration of then-Prime Minister Taro Aso.