Concern aired as Japan hikes military spend

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Japan's recent military initiatives could weigh heavily on its economy, with a continuously increasing military budget surpassing 10 trillion yen ($64 billion) being seen as ignoring public welfare and heading away from its peace-centered constitution, experts warn.

The Japanese government recently approved a supplementary budget for fiscal year 2025, covering the period from April 2025 to March 2026, aimed at accelerating the increase in defense spending to 2 percent of GDP ahead of schedule.

The budget proposal approved by the cabinet on Friday includes an additional 1.1 trillion yen for defense. Combined with the 9.9 trillion yen allocated in the regular budget, the total defense spending for the current fiscal year is expected to reach around 11 trillion yen, in line with the government's goal of raising it to 2 percent of GDP.

Yuko Ohtsubaki, deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party, said on the social media platform X that Japan cannot squander taxpayers' money on military expansion while ignoring the lives of people in poverty.

Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor of Japan's Yamaguchi University, told Xinhua News Agency that the Japanese government is accelerating its military expansion program. He said that, for the Japanese economy, defense spending exceeding 10 trillion yen is an extremely heavy burden, and this approach disregards the people's livelihoods.

The Defense Ministry has proposed 847.2 billion yen in spending for the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget. Of this amount, 122.2 billion yen is earmarked for the procurement of assets, while an additional 56.6 billion yen will be allocated for missile purchases.

The record-high 847.2 billion yen did not demonstrate the urgency expected of a supplementary budget and represented a "numbers-first" approach aimed at achieving the 2 percent target while trying to appease the United States, according to Shimbun Akahata, the Japanese Communist Party's official newspaper.

Under the Public Finance Act, supplementary budgets are legally limited to "expenditures of particular urgency" and are only drawn up for unforeseen situations that the initial budget cannot cover. Since fiscal 2013 under the Shinzo Abe administration, including military spending in such budgets has become routine.

In the early 2010s, Defense Ministry supplementary outlays averaged around 200 billion yen per year. By fiscal 2018, they had surged past 400 billion yen, and since fiscal 2023, they have exceeded 800 billion yen.

Takahide Kiuchi, an executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, told Nikkei Asia, "Different governments have used supplementary budgets to show their individuality. There is less time for parliamentary deliberation than with regular budgets, and scrutiny is laxer."

Covering defense spending with Japanese government bonds "will lead to higher interest rates and a weaker yen, which will have a negative impact on people's lives," Kiuchi said.

According to Japanese media, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Japan Innovation Party combine is attempting to triple the out-of-pocket medical costs for the elderly. This is the concrete implementation of JIP's policy to cut 4 trillion yen in medical expenses.

A report published by Shimbun Akahata on Sunday pointed out that while the government is pushing forward with a massive military buildup, angry voices are rising over the cuts to social security.

According to Nikkei Asia, the government also lacks a timetable for securing stable funding. The fiscal 2025 supplementary budget is expected to be funded by government bond issuance and increased tax revenue. If the government decides on the scale of the defense budget without securing funding sources, it will inevitably have to rely on government bonds to finance the plan during its implementation.

During World War II, Japan issued a large number of government bonds to raise massive military funds. After the war, inflation surged rapidly, causing these bonds to become almost completely worthless.