Inside Japan's defense

In Inside Japan's Defense, noted defense analyst Michael W. Chinworth relates the dramatic story of Japan's recent defense industrial development and identifies the Japanese strategy for the year 2000. In the process, he examines the pattern of defense policies and procurement that have led Japan to its present position as a near military power in the region, asks why and how the world's second largest economic power buys its weapons, and speculates on how patterns may change in the future. He also demonstrates why and how the United States has contributed to Japan's military growth through generous technology transfers and the protection of their bilateral security treaty. This important new book also contains lessons for a budget-conscious United States. Due to the new geopolitical balance and severe budget constraints, America of the 1990s faces the most radical restructuring of its defense posture since the end of World War II. The Japanese defense industry, on the other hand, has long operated in an austere economic and budgetary environment. Thus the Japanese are experienced at stretching every yen that goes into defense, and their defense community has already dealt with many of the problems just now facing American planners. According to Inside Japan's Defense, the Japanese have handled these problems very well. The issues covered in this book will be key topics of discussion during every future U.S. budget cycle.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.