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Japan easing decades-old restrictions on arms exports opens a big opportunity for the country's defense industry in a world increasingly hungry for weapons.
The global conditions seem favorable. On April 27, SIPRI reported that global military spending hit a record of $2.89 trillion in 2025, the 11th straight year of increase.
Countries are "desperate" to acquire weapons such as air defense missiles, artillery shells and armored vehicles, areas where Japan Inc. might expand its market share in the international defense economy, Hirohito Ogi, senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based Institute of Geoeconomics, told CNBC in an interview.
South Korea may offer a template — defense companies there have had a roaring few years producing arms cheaper, faster, and of comparable quality to U.S. weapons, benefiting as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on — and the Iran war is likely to fuel demand even further.
