{"id":42477,"date":"2014-05-12T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=42477"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:35:01","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:35:01","slug":"japan-prepares-to-enter-the-arms-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/05\/japan-prepares-to-enter-the-arms-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Prepares to Enter the Arms Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"japan<\/a><\/p>\n

Keenly aware of the trouble that came with ambitious generals and an expanding munitions industry, the Japanese government has long banned most weapons exports. That policy helped buttress Japan\u2019s pacifism, but it also hindered the growth of the country\u2019s defense industry. Because it couldn\u2019t sell parts overseas, Japanese defense companies missed out on chances to develop tanks, fighter jets, and other weaponry with the U.S. The ban \u201chas resulted in an isolated Japanese defense industry that produces very small quantities at very high cost,\u201d says Lance Gatling, president of Nexial Research, a defense consulting company in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Asian neighbors have taken advantage of its absence from the export scene. South Korea exported $3.4 billion worth of arms in 2013, up from $1.2 billion in 2010. China last year passed France and Britain to become the world\u2019s fourth-largest arms exporter, behind only the U.S., Russia, and Germany, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.<\/p>\n

In April [2014], the government of Japan\u2019s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, lifted a ban from the 1970s that restricted arms exports. The country\u2019s contentious relations with China, which claims Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, made getting rid of the ban politically much easier for Abe, even though a recent poll suggests most Japanese citizens don\u2019t support loosening export restrictions. The old policy \u201cwas too strict,\u201d says Tsuneo Watanabe, director of policy research and senior fellow at the Tokyo Foundation. \u201cThe voice of pacifism is getting lower because of tensions with China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story: U.S. Defense Contractors Focus on Foreign Buyers<\/a><\/p>\n

Abe\u2019s policy change is part of a larger strategic shift. Since 1945, the Japanese have focused on the defense of their home islands. The task of policing the rest of Asia fell to the U.S. Now, Japan sees itself as an active participant in the region\u2019s effort to thwart China\u2019s expansion. It considers the Southeast Asian states as potential partners in this stand-off with China, and it wants to be able to sell arms to those countries, too.<\/p>\n

The opportunities for Japan to grab market share won\u2019t be in building entire weapons systems such as jet fighters or aircraft carriers. Japanese companies have a competitive edge in building high-end components, particularly electronics. \u201cYou may have fighter jets and warships from different manufacturers, but the electronics inside those ships and planes have to be able to communicate and share data with each other,\u201d says Robbin Laird, a defense industry consultant with International Communications & Strategic Assessments in Arlington, Va. \u201cWhat you really care about are the electronics inside, and that\u2019s what Japan does best.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most important tests of Japan\u2019s new role will be the F-35 program, the Pentagon\u2019s most expensive weapons project ever. The country is buying 42 of Lockheed Martin\u2019s (LMT<\/a>) joint strike fighters. Almost all will be assembled at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011:JP<\/a>) plant being finished in Nagoya. Japan now has the chance to make components for the F-35 that other countries may be able to use.<\/p>\n

Video: Inside Japan’s Medieval Fight Club<\/a><\/p>\n

One interesting opportunity for Japanese arms exports is India, now the biggest foreign buyer of U.S. arms and possibly the world\u2019s largest market for weapons over the next 20 years. The country has had bad experiences buying Russian and French weapons. The Japanese could compete, especially if they do better by the Indians, says Dean Cheng, an East Asian military analyst for the Heritage Foundation. \u201cIt sounds funny, but customer service matters just as much when you\u2019re buying weapons as it does when you\u2019re buying a car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story: An Arms Race Gets Into Gear and Other Predictions for Asia in 2014<\/a><\/p>\n

The bottom line:<\/em><\/strong> Japan plans to be a competitor in the crowded global arms industry, but China and Korea have a big head start.<\/em><\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Einhorn is Asia regional editor in Bloomberg Businessweek\u2019s Hong Kong bureau.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Philips is an associate editor for Bloomberg Businessweek in New York.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 businessweek.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April [2014], the government of Japan\u2019s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, lifted a ban from the 1970s that restricted arms exports. The country\u2019s contentious relations with China, which claims Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, made getting rid of the ban politically much easier for Abe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}