Commentary
More than eight decades after the end of the second world war, the country must rethink its role in the world, says this writer for the Financial Times.
Office workers in Tokyo. (Photo: AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)
16 Aug 2026 06:00AM
TOKYO: The 81st anniversary of the end of the second world war will pass in Japan this weekend amid a deafening silence. Beneath it lies a deeper affliction: a fear of sovereignty that has produced a sclerotic approach to the country’s future. A recent Gallup survey of 45 countries found only 9 per cent of Japanese citizens would fight for their country - the lowest of all nations surveyed.Japan’s education system has reinforced this attitude, even as China expands its economic and military reach and North Korea continues its provocations. Our curriculum is still shaped by postwar assumptions rather than today’s realities, which demand a serious focus on deterring threats to national security.But what should deterrence mean for Japan today?
