143 Anno XVIII - 2008 - Marina Militare

32
A NEw SUN ON THE HORIZON?
THE DAwN OF JAPAN’S
ExPEDITIONARy CAPABILITy
Doctor Alessio PATALANO
LAUghTON NAVAL hISTOry SChOLAr
DEpArTMENT Of WAr STUDIES
KINg’S COLLEgE LONDON
IntroductIon
Thursday 23 August 2007 represented a date
of historical significance for Japan’s post-war
defence policy. In a stirring ceremony held
at the Yokohama shipyards of the IHI Marine
United, the launching of Japan’s long-awaited
first flat-top helicopter-carrying destroyer, JDS
Hyuga (DDH-181), marked the country’s return
in the exclusive club of the world’s top class navies.
1
Far from being an isolated episode, the
procurement of this new class of warships is at
the centre of a major transformation of Japan’s
defence policy, which in turn is symptomatic of
the country’s re-emergence as a more confident
political actor in international security and
military affairs. 2 Indeed, as the largest unit
to join the fleet of the Japan Maritime Self-
Defence Force (JMSDF) since its establishment
in 1954, this new platform together with its
sister-ship planned to enter service in 2011,
have been regarded as one of the most evident
signs of Japan’s Post-Cold War ambitions
to move away from its ‘defensive defence’,
acquiring power projection capabilities. 3 In
some cases, analysts argued that the post-9/11
stepping up of Japan’s military empowerment,
encompassing new capabilities and a widened
spectrum of operations, was indicative of a
rather sinister phenomenon named ‘Heisei
militarization’ (from the name of the current
Emperor and reminiscent of the ‘Showa militarization’
of the 1930s). 4 Japan’s more muscular
military endeavour would be part of a plan
to build-up hard power to address increased
regional security concerns and to expand the
strategic partnership with the United States.
Militarization ‘would not be a reversion to the
old stereotype of Japan as addicted to militarism,
but rather the common and dangerous behaviour
of a normal medium-sized state in a militarized
world’. 5 In this respect, some observers consider
the Japanese military phenomenon as part of a
broader and potentially de-stabilising process
of naval arms race in Asia, headed by China
and India. 6
These assessments detailed to a considerable
degree the various internal and external factors
informing Japan’s domestic political debate
on defence issues, but reserved only limited
attention to the military and strategic rationale
underpinning the acquisition of those enhanced
capabilities. The tendency has been to treat
the introduction of new naval combat systems
as empirical evidence of the renewed political
assertiveness of the past decade and a half
rather than as tools of a national strategy. Thus,
considerations on the size and the assets of the
JMSDF’s fleet contributed to fulfil predictions
on Japan’s pursuit of power projection, leaving