Japan has a very substantial armed forces. How much do they have to spend before you’ll consider it meaningful?
As of the last time I looked (1997ish), Japan had the second largest military spending in the world behind the US. The main issue is that the one thing the Japanese people actually do seem to have a political opinion on is that they don’t want to have any Japanese soldiers die–and so the 0 beligerence technicality that has allowed the military to exist under the constitution has continued.
Sage Rat I also thought that Japan had the second highest military budget also but I think I heard that last year. I could be incredibly wrong (not unusual)but I also thought they still had quite a few conditions attached to how/when and why they used their military (conditions made at the end of WW2).
Does America no longer have a base in the Phillipines? I am out of touch.
I should have previewed that!
They do. There are currently foreign troops (Canadian, IIRC) guarding the Japanese forces deployed in Iraq in case they are attacked.
Look for all this to change over the next couple years as the constitution is revised, however.
Will they have more authority over how they use their military? Will American bases end?
It’s not a done deal, so I can’t speak with absolute certainty, but I believe that yes, it will become easier for Japan to use their military, and no, American bases in Japan will not end.
I think you need to define “have troops in Iraq” a little more clearly; the US has permanent bases in a number of countries, including places like Iceland, where it’s very clear that they exercise little to no infuence on that nation’s policies and are not involved in that nation’s internal security, but instead simply reflect a long-term strategic alliance.
In that sense, I can easily see the US maintaining bases in Iraq for a generation. Given that the entire industrialized world has a mortal dependance on ME oil, having the biggest kid on the block there is probably a good thing.