German scholar urges Kishida to carefully handle defense issues

Peace sound nice and all. But a nation that could get hit but cannot strike back is pretty useless. Without striking capabilities, no matter how good you think your defense are, you are just sitting duck. Practically target practice for it's enemies. I see no issue upgrading our missile defenses. You can love peace but that doesn't mean you have to be weak.

Would Japan be more secure after doubling its military budget? Most likely not

Exactly,the dramatic military expense increase of the ultra conservative Japanese government is preoccupying and shows how little they care of common people in order to preserve their “prestige and honour” with the display of deadly weapons.

Japan in all these years almost forgot his duty to it’s people without a good welfare.

Put simply, Japan has no idea where to spend the extra 1% but need to use it cos other countries are doing it. Definition of clueless and directionless.

What’s this? Almost no one knows that guy or that university, neither here nor in Germany. Go ahead with all necessary defense measures. There is no reason for, or positive effect in doubts and delay. The increasing threats demand just quick and adequate acting, not more but also not less.

Scholars should consider how to and urge thugs to disarm themselves rather than try to urge police to face them with bare hands

"Would Japan be more secure after doubling its military budget? Most likely not, even though the alliance with the United States might be strengthened," Saaler wrote from Frankfurt, Germany, where he is currently on a sabbatical leave.

As a German, Saaler might be aware of how Belgium and the Netherlands neglected their armed forces in the 1930s - leaving the Nazis free to steamroller over them. I write “might be aware” because I suspect Saaler has no interest in facts which negate his dogmatic views.

Nice advice.

I still think every countries should boost up defense, Germany included.

The U.S.A. is a dying empire, in spite of and because of its outlandish spending on the military. That an insipid oaf such as Donald Trump, with no governing experience or military know-how forced its client state aka Japan to shoulder a larger percentage of the costs associated with maintaining troops stationed on sovereign soil and to top it off, pushed the acquisition of fighter jets of dubious quality reveals a nation that is incredibly subordinate to its so-called partner in Asia. Mimicking the so called military prowess of a country aka USA that is bankrupting its treasury and creating havoc around the world is not a good model. Let alone its purposeful ratcheting up of tensions with China.

China is a manufacturing and trading partner for The West and Japan. Japan has cultivated industrial tourism as a means of domestic revenue dependent on Chinese visitors. Yet, engages in confrontational politics, mostly at the behest of the USA, in line with its client-state status.

Increasing defense spending by engaging in first strike capabilities as a deterrent is not just faulty logic, but absurd. The sum of money to be spent is large, in terms of social spending, but minimal in terms of forging a military response. Japan, for those who neglect to examine such, is resource dependent and incapable of engaging in any long term 'war' - let alone capable of fending off China or even more bizarre, attacking China. And the point of such weaponry IS to engage China in a military action. Something doomed to failure.

As for the example of the Netherlands and Belgium - attacked by the Nazis, no amount of military spending and armament would have prevent the Germans from rolling over both countries.

The Japanese alliance with the USA, a country that treated the Pacific as an 'American Lake' has run its course and it is time to cultivate an Asian sphere based on alliances and diplomacy, not military might.

Almost no one knows that guy or that university, neither here nor in Germany.

Baka! "Sophia is one of the 3 prestigious Sōkeijōchi (早慶上智) private universities, a group of the top 3 private universities in Japan with the other 2 being Keio University and Waseda University," - Wikipedia

Richard Gallagher

HEAR! HEAR! But, perhaps, a voice speaking to the wind...

We see everyday in this very place the needs of the Japanese people expressed in sadness and despair and to spend (according to "blue" above) close to 50 BILLION dollars on useless JUNK when the elderly are dying of desperation is insane. Building a strong, healthy society will do much more to guarantee Japan's future than giving away those resources to Corporate proponents and purveyors of mass murder for trash that will only make Nihon more vulnerable to violent destruction. And the likelihood of China changing its trade policies from honest business to the world wide armed piracy practiced by the United States is highly unlikely. And "...Japan's reputation as a "peace state."" is the greatest 'defense' Japan could hope for when trapped between hostile giants...

It’s all waste of money unless they are put into nuclear weapons. Everything else is just some kids toys. The best is to stop paying to USA and use saved money to develop own nuclear capability.

Was this "Saaler" half that enthusiastic in calling the PRC to build fewer weapons?

Whether any military show of force by Japan, or any country, will contribute to the solution of conflicts in the long term is, in my opinion, very doubtful.

We didn’t have major wars since 1945 only because some countries demonstrated such a military force which makes any large scale war meaningless for anyone.

He is like the United Nations, UNHCR and its so called special reporters, criticizing the easiest targets to dodge what they already know is fundamental cause

@P.Smith

Germans, unlike Japanese, have accepted full responsibility for their country’s actions in the 1930s and 1940s.

How long will you expose your ignorance?

P. SmithToday  07:24 am JST

Germans, unlike Japanese, have accepted full responsibility for their country’s actions in the 1930s and 1940s.

"Germany Has a Neo-Nazi Terrorism Epidemic"

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/02/germany-has-a-neo-nazi-terror-epidemic/

"Dresden: The German city that declared a 'Nazi emergency'"

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50266955

You think Japan being weak and pushed around by China, Russia and both Koreas is good??? Even USA used Japan's weakness to push Plaza Accord on our country.

Who benefits from Japan being weak, pushed around, no voice??........ Not Japan!

Foreigners. Yes.

China. Yes.

Russia. Yes.

USA. Yes.

Both Koreas. Yes

Everyone around Japan benefits from our weakness. While our economy was forced in stagnation and we can't defend our land or islands like Takeshima taken away while weak and pacifist by half of S. Korea. Wasn't even communist North Korea. Was democratic country S. Korea.

It’s all waste of money unless they are put into nuclear weapons. Everything else is just some kids toys.

This is outdated thinking. Nuclear weapons are hideously expensive to make, to maintain and to secure. They also require very special and expensive command and control to prevent misuse. In any event, modern all aspect low-observable aircraft/UASs/missiles, precision guidance and hard target penetrator warheads make nuclear weapons almost unneeded for warfare. The rule of thumb in ordnance is to reliably destroy a target the blast radius needs to be at least equal to the Circular Error Probable or CEP of the weapon. When weapons had CEPs in the hundreds and occasionally even thousands of meters, you needed a real big explosion to take out the target. That meant nuclear weapons. But today CEPs are down into the tens of meters or less, making nuclear weapons gross overkill for nearly any target set. Even an enemies nucleaer missile silos could be destroyed with precision guided bombs using penetrator warheads. Nuclear weapons are more of a terror weapon you threaten to use on your enemies cities if the end appears near. But nearly any target you want to name can be destroyed with conventional munitions using precision guided weapons delivered from L-O aircraft, and you can afford a lot more punch for the same Yen than by going nuclear.

I don't think Japan needs to take advice from a country like Germany that is failing in many ways to uphold its obligations to NATO. Japan should follow Germany's example wrt to atoning for their WWII atrocities but Germany is the slacker of NATO and much too cozy to the Russians to be lecturing Japan about how to spend their defense Yen.

Japan should follow Germany's example wrt to atoning for their WWII atrocities

This. Germany atoned only to Jews, not for their WW2 atrocities, not to mention for WW1 atrocities and what they had done to former-German's colonies