This year's government white paper on defense touches on North Korea's missile tests, closer security cooperation between Japan and the United States, and proposals to upgrade the Defense Agency to ministry status and expand the Self-Defense Forces' overseas activities, among other things.

Although the security environment around Japan is changing, utmost care must be taken to ensure that the nation's defense debates do not deviate from the nation's "defense only" policy and the principles of the war-renouncing Constitution. This is the surest way to win the people's understanding of the nation's defense policy and avoid raising unnecessary suspicions in neighboring countries.

In the preface of the white paper, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga mentions proposals to upgrade the Defense Agency to ministry status and, as one of its main tasks, to normalize the SDF's overseas activities. His statement apparently reflects a high level of confidence following the conclusion of an agreement with the U.S. on the realignment of its bases in Japan, the strengthening of Japan-U.S. defense ties under the Koizumi and Bush administrations, and the safe completion of the Ground Self-Defense Force's mission in Iraq.