Japan's military budget

After the defeat in World War II and the surrender of Japan, the Imperial Army of Japan was disbanded, and military factories and educational institutions were closed. The restoration of military service and paramilitaries began in the 1950s; on August 10, 1950, a reserve police corps was created; in August 1952, it was transformed into a security corps, which on August 1, 1954 was transformed into the Japanese Self-Defense Forces ^[2] .

From 1957 to 1976, the development of Japanese self-defense forces took place on the basis of 5-year programs ^[2] .

• first-plan expenses amounted to 460 billion yen ^[3]
• expenses for the implementation of the second plan (1962 - 1966) amounted to 1,320 billion yen ^[3] .

On October 29, 1976, the National Defense Council and the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan approved the “Main National Defense Program” for the next 15 years, the purpose of which was to further strengthen the self-defense forces to the level of “basic defense forces” ^[2] .

In December 1980, US Secretary of Defense G. Brown , who arrived in Japan, demanded that the Japanese government increase military spending "by at least 9.7%." After negotiations on December 11–13, 1980, the Japanese government increased military spending for 1981 by 7.6% ^[4] .

In 1982, the military budget of Japan was increased by 7.75% compared with the military budget of 1981, in 1983 the military budget of Japan was 6.5% higher than the military budget of 1982 ^[5] . In general, in the 1980s, the growth of military spending outstripped the increase in the state budget of the country and was one of the main reasons for the growth of public debt in Japan ^[1] .

In 1985, due to another increase in military spending by 202.5 billion yen, allocations for other items of the state budget were reduced (expenses of the Ministry of Health were reduced by 100 billion yen, expenses of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries by 160 billion yen ) ^[1] .

In 1987, the Japanese government lifted restrictions on the size of the military budget (which until then should not have exceeded 1% of the country's GDP ) ^[2] , on January 23, 1987, military spending for the first time after the end of World War II exceeded 1% of the country's GDP ^[6] , in 1987, the military budget of Japan was increased to 1.004% of GDP, in 1988 - to 1.013% of GDP ^[2] .

Between 1955 and 1990, Japanese military spending increased 56 times ^[1] .

During the Persian Gulf War 1990 - 1991 Japan provided financial assistance to coalition forces in the amount of about 13 billion US dollars ^[7] .

On April 1, 1991, the sixth five-year program for the development of the Japanese armed forces for 1991-1996 was approved, which provided for allocations in the amount of 22.75 trillion. yen (22.8% more than the costs of the previous fifth five-year program) ^[8] .

• On June 26, 1992, the Japanese government allocated $ 75 million to finance the UN mission in Cambodia ^[9] , in which the Japanese peacekeeping contingent participated from September 1992 to September 1993.
• in 1993, the appropriations for the sixth five-year program were revised due to changes in the procurement plans of military equipment (on the one hand, the French Brandt MO-120-RT61 120-mm mortars were adopted; on the other hand, the amount of previously ordered equipment reduced by 2 warships, 24 tanks and 15 fighters). As a result, after the redistribution of funds between the items of the military budget, the appropriation for the five-year program was reduced by 2.5% - to 22.17 trillion. yen ^[10]

Since December 2001, Japan began providing logistical support to the ISAF forces participating in the fighting in Afghanistan , for which a detachment of Japanese naval ships was sent to the Indian Ocean. For the first three years, Japan’s ISAF logistics support costs totaled36 billion yen ^[11] . In January 2010, ISAF logistics support was completed ^[12] .

In 2005, a new national defense program of Japan was adopted ^[13] .

After the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine in the spring of 2014, Japan became one of the countries providing military assistance to Ukraine . Between March 27, 2019, Japan donated $ 1.5 million worth of medical equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces ^[14] (in addition, until December 14, 2018, Japan supplied 2,200 police vehicles and 9,000 winter outfits for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine , a set of digital radio equipment, mine clearance equipment and medical equipment) ^[15] .

In fiscal 2019 (April 2019 - March 2020), the Japanese government plans to increase defense spending by 1.93% compared to 2018, to 5.29 trillion yen ^[16] .

• 1960 - 190 billion yen ^[17]
• 1962 - $ 600 million ^[1]
• 1965 - 301.4 billion yen ^[17]
• 1981 - 2,446.6 billion yen ^[18]
• 1983 - 2.7 trillion yen ^[5]
• 1990 - 32 billion US dollars ^[1]
• 1993 - 37.7 billion US dollars ^[1]
• 2004 - 46 billion US dollars ^[19]
• 2010 - $ 53.5 ^[20] - $ 54.5 billion ^[21]
• 2011 - $ 58.4 ^[20]
• year 2012 - 4.645 trillion yen ^[22]
• year 2013 - 4.653 trillion yen ^[23]
• year 2014 - 4.82 trillion yen ^[24]
• 2015 - 4.981 trillion yen ^[25]
• 2016 - 5.05 trillion yen ^[26]
• 2017 - 5.1 trillion yen ^[27]
• 2019 - 5.3 trillion yen ^[28]

Japanese state budget funds are not the only source of financing for the Japanese armed forces.

According to the official data of the US military department, only in the period from 1951 to 1956 the USA rendered military assistance to Japan in the amount of over 723 million US dollars (this amount includes the cost of small arms, cars, airplanes and ships transferred free of charge to the Japanese side) ^[29] .

• A.I. Dinkevich. Public finance of post-war Japan. M., 1967.
• A.P. Markov. Japan: an armament course. M., "International Relations", 1970 - 192 p.
• The military budget of Japan for the 1975/76 financial year // the journal "Foreign Military Review", No. 8, 1975.
• Financing the construction of the armed forces of Japan // journal "Foreign Military Review", No. 9, 1977.
• Military expenditures of the countries of the world (at constant prices in 1999) // Journal of Foreign Military Review, No. 6 (663), 2002, pp. 15-20
• Lieutenant Colonel S. Pechurov. Features of financing the military construction of Japan // Journal of Foreign Military Review, No. 10 (691), 2004, pp. 11-14
• Major R. Soluyanov. Japanese military spending // Foreign Military Review, No. 9, 2014. pp. 35-38
• Japan increases defense spending // Journal of Foreign Military Review, No. 3 (840), March 2017. p. 89