Japan has NO CHOICE in that they are subservient to the US, just as Europe is. They will disarm and leave themselves exposed, or they will lose the protection of the US.
And like Europe and the US, once this Ukraine crap is over, and the Neocons are properly spanked - Japan will tell the US to F-Off and will again be a military power.
...and so was it such a good idea by the Neocons to cause the war in Ukraine by goading Russia? I don’t think so, but others may think differently.
Actually, Japan is conducting its largest military build-up since WWII that “will make the country the world’s third-biggest military spender”.
“TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict, as regional tensions and Russia’s Ukraine invasion stoke war fears.
The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world’s third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who described Japan and its people as being at a “turning point in history”, said the ramp-up was “my answer to the various security challenges that we face”.
His government worries that Russia has set a precedent that will encourage China to attack Taiwan, threatening nearby Japanese islands, disrupting supplies of advanced semiconductors and putting a potential stranglehold on sea lanes that supply Middle East oil.”