Japan’s Approaches to Defense Transparency

Contemporary Japanese approaches to defense transparency are informed by history, relations with external states, the domestic political configuration of institutions, and state-society interactions. Analysts from the Japanese defense establishment agree that greater levels of transparency are inherently good, while their counterparts from China note the importance of political and diplomatic relations in increasing the credibility of defense transparency efforts. There is a consensus that expectations of defense transparency should be realistic, and the emphasis should be on bilateral efforts to promote defense transparency.