I didn’t know that. They must be worried about China.
China is a concern plus they don’t know what the US will do in the area. The “self defense” posture was just to appease all the other countries in the area that they ran over during WW2.
Japan is one big factory so they have a large fleet of merchant shipping and shipping lanes they have to protect in the event of any hostilities.
They currently have four helicopter carriers, 19,000 tons
These can easily be converted for fixed wing and they will be buying the F35 which comes in a short take off model. Perfect to operate off a small deck carrier. These will replace the Marines Harriers.
They have underway replenishment for the fleet.
The Air Self Defense Force (air force) has four 767 tankers and they have un-modified their F4s to take on fuel in flight(air refuel doors were welded shut). The F15 and F2 (local flavor F16) are air refuel capable.
They also have four E767 AWACS, airborne radar to complement the older E2s.
They have two new airframes flying. One cargo, looks like a twin engined C141, and one to replace their P3s. We are still messing around with that one, the P8.
Their main battle tank is on par with the M1 and Leopard 2. Same gun. They also have the ability to coordinate attacks so that all tanks can hit a single target.
They have space launch capability.
If they go head to head with a lot of countries they will be able to hold their own. They are equal to the what is left of the Brits forces except the Brits have the advantage in having nukes and nuke subs.