About the Author
Kosuke Takahashi
Kosuke Takahashi is a Tokyo-based journalist. His work has appeared in the Asahi Shimbun, Bloomberg, Asia Times, Jane's Defence Weekly and The Diplomat, among other publications. You can follow him on Twitter.
Japan is poised to boost its defense spending by another $6.8 billion (770 billion yen) to combat threats from North Korea and China, expanding its defense budget to its highest-ever amount.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet approved the increase on Friday, pushing the country’s annual defense spending to over $53.2 billion (6.1 trillion yen) for the first time and exceeding last year’s budget by over 15%.