Japan's economy is not doing very well. Poverty or malnutrition may not be as visible as in other developed countries. However, media and other sources report that these invisible problems are becoming deeper and deeper. Japan is not alone in this problem among the developed countries. In all such countries, on the one hand, wealth is concentrated in the control of a handful of families, while on the other hand, the number of people losing their jobs is increasing. At the same time, rampant inflation is making it difficult for low-income families to survive, and the number of families struggling to meet daily living expenses is increasing. As a result, crime is increasing.
A survey released by the Japanese Ministry of Welfare in the middle of this year showed that about 60 per cent of families in the country struggled to meet their household expenses last year. The main reason for this is the increase in the amount of money needed to meet living expenses, which is due to the depreciation of the country's currency, the yen, and the rise in food prices. Japan has to import about 60 per cent of its food needs. The depreciation of the country's currency increases the cost of imports, which naturally increases the price of food. Apart from this, there are other reasons, such as the war in Ukraine. In such a situation, in another survey, about 90 per cent of low-income families in Japan said that they are struggling to buy food for their children due to rising prices.
Solving such problems is seen as one of the main responsibilities of the government in any country. But many countries in the world are now paying more attention to another aspect: increasing military strength in the face of the fear of attacks from imaginary enemies. Japan is no exception. Why? To find the answer to that question, we need to look at Japan's defence spending.
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The Japanese government is planning to spend 9 trillion Japanese yen, or approximately 58 billion US dollars, on the defence sector in the next fiscal year starting in April. This figure surpasses the record allocation of 8.7 trillion yen in the current fiscal year's budget.
Japan's influential daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun, citing various sources, said in a report published on Saturday that the Japanese government plans to spend 9 trillion Japanese yen, or approximately 58 billion US dollars, on the defense sector in the next fiscal year starting in April. This figure exceeds the record allocation of 8.7 trillion yen in the current fiscal year's budget. The Japanese government had previously said that the country is facing defence challenges from China and North Korea, as well as to meet the demands of US President Donald Trump. However, the country's ruling leaders say that the Japanese government is doing so with a vow to protect its citizens.
President Trump, however, has been demanding an increase in the amount of money allocated to the defence sector from Japan for a long time. He made the same demand during his previous term in power and is making it even more now. It does not seem that much intelligence is needed to understand why he is making this demand. Trump, who is known for his business acumen, knows very well that increasing Japan's defence spending will bring a large portion of that money to the United States. Because Japan buys all kinds of the latest weapons from the United States. And the fact that these weapons are sold at sky-high prices is not unknown to many. As a result, Trump is indirectly sending the message of how to make America great again by relying on the shoulders of others. In addition, the recent situation in Venezuela shows us that he is not afraid to engage in piracy if that trick does not work, and we are all pretending not to see that great country out of fear.
Until recently, Japan had kept its defence spending below 1 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) for a long time. However, Japan has crossed that unwritten limit in recent years, and after taking office as Prime Minister in October, Takae Saneichi said that he plans to set defence and related spending at 2 per cent of GDP within the next two years.
The Japanese government has planned to spend 43 trillion yen over the next five years to build up its defence capabilities in fiscal 2022, and the government's preliminary budget plan for the fourth year of the plan, fiscal 2026, includes the above-mentioned 9 trillion yen, and it is expected that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's cabinet will approve it later this month. The new weapons that the Japanese government is planning to acquire include hypersonic guided missiles, which are said to be capable of hitting enemy targets at speeds five times faster than sound. In addition, there is the development of medium-range surface-to-air missile systems to intercept ballistic missiles and the deployment of autonomous vehicles capable of moving on land and under water to protect the coast, as well as the acquisition of a large number of drones. A large part of all such lethal weapons will certainly come from Mr Trump's arsenal, and certainly not for free.
Japan, which was scarred by the atomic bombings of World War II, had until recently kept defence spending below 1 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) for a long time. In recent years, however, Japan has exceeded that unwritten limit, and after taking office as prime minister in October, Takae Saneichi said he planned to set defence and related spending at 2 per cent of GDP within the next two years. Trump, however, wants the target to be 3.5 per cent. He cites China’s growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific and North Korea’s missile tests and nuclear development as reasons. He also indicates that the activities that could pose such threats to Japan may not be able to protect its allies by responding to threats that the United States alone cannot.
What we see from these calculations is that when the various problems of the citizens of the country are becoming acute, almost all the advanced countries are increasing their expenditure on increasing their military power, even though they are claiming that they do not have enough money to deal with these problems. Of course, it is not only the developed countries that are joining in such an evil competition. Most countries in the developing world are also spending a large part of their GDP on the same sector, even if the people of the country are starving.
It is said that Pakistan allocates more than one-third of its GDP to the defence sector. Many other countries in the developing world are not far behind. As a result, it may seem as if we are walking on a dark path, and those who are taking advantage of the situation that we cannot see with our eyes and are increasing their profit figures, are those who are inventing cutting-edge technology along with the dealers of deadly weapons. Because the use of various sophisticated drones and other weapons in limited wars going on in different parts of the world shows that a large part of advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, is being used to create and develop deadly weapons, right?
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