Japan plans a 56% rise in defense spending over the next five years

On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida directed that the country's defense budget be increased by 56% over the next five years to 43 trillion yen.

In response to regional challenges from nuclear-armed North Korea and a more assertive China, the government is revising its military and security strategy.

Kishida informed Hamada that "the scale of the medium-term military program for the next five years, whi....