Use Trump as the bogeyman to confront Japan's defence taboos

The President's criticism of the US security treaty with Japan is the perfect cover that Tokyo needs to shake off its outdated attitudes about defence.

- Gearoid Reidy

US President Donald Trump caused a stir in Tokyo last week with comments criticising the unequal nature of his country's security treaty with Japan.

"The US is obligated to defend Japan, while Japan provides bases to the US. The time has come to change this asymmetrical bilateral treaty."

Hang on – those remarks actually come from his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who himself has long questioned the nature of the alliance. What the US President said was that the US-Japan Security Treaty is "an interesting deal with Japan that we have to protect them, but they don't have to protect us", adding: "Who makes these deals?"

While Mr Ishiba and other officials officially pushed back against the comments, they should be welcoming them. Mr Trump's flippant attitude towards international alliances is a threat to a country that depends on Washington for its safety. But it's also an opportunity for Japan to hasten the normalisation of its attitude towards defending itself.

Among the biggest obstacles has been the public attitude in a country that largely believes peace is both a means and an end. Much of its approach to defence remains an anachronism, limited not just by its peace Constitution but also self-imposed norms. For example, despite being a fervent supporter of Ukraine since Russia's invasion, Japan still supplies only non-lethal aid to Kyiv, and has almost no arms export industry to speak of.