By 2045, Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) could shrink to 130,000 personnel – nearly half today’s strength. But Tokyo has already ruled out one think tank’s controversial fix: recruiting foreign nationals.
The proposal formed part of a report written by a panel of senior former defence bureaucrats and military chiefs, released by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation on September 2.
It attracted widespread comment, both supportive and critical, before Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made the government’s position clear on Friday, stating he was “not considering” hiring foreign nationals for the armed forces.
He acknowledged that “securing human resources is a major challenge in the context of the declining birth rate and ageing population”, but said the government was instead drawing up plans to address personnel shortfalls by improving conditions and facilities for serving members and their families, offering more support after they had left the armed services and expanding the use of technology such as AI.
Employers across Japan are struggling to find workers and analysts say the military holds little appeal for many young people.
While other countries allow non-nationals to serve – Britain, for example, recruits Commonwealth citizens – Japan has shown far greater reluctance to follow suit, a stance that coincides with hardening public opposition to immigration more broadly.
“There are just too many reasons, from the military, the government and the public, why this suggestion is not going to work,” a government adviser on national security told This Week in Asia.
“All arms of the SDF are understaffed at the moment and they are having problems retaining trained people. But this [proposal] has alarmed people.”