The return of the Samurai: Japan and India should work together for a new Indo-Pacific order

The ritual of ‘yoroi-kizome’ — the first wearing of armour — was once a ceremonial passage for the Samurai class, a spiritual transition from youth to warrior.

With Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) securing a historic two-thirds supermajority, Japan is coming out of a different kind of ritual: the performative shedding of armour. It has hidden behind the semantic shield of “self-defence”, treating its military capacity as a necessary embarrassment, best kept out of sight.

That era is dead. Faced with a neighbourhood that resembles a powder keg with a lit fuse, Tokyo is undergoing a strategic resurrection.

This is making China nervous, having already lashed out at Japanese rearmament. However, in a striking departure from the past, the Japanese have reacted aggressively, pointing to China’s own massive militarisation. Japan has approved a defence budget that shatters the pacifist glass ceiling: a 10 per cent increase to a record $58 billion. This is just the beginning and Japan, as it reaches 2 per cent of GDP spending on defence, is likely to spend far more over this decade. Donald Trump’s humiliating trade deal with Japan and his isolationist MAGA mandate mean that Japan can no longer rely on America’s spear. It is forging a blade of its own. The twin nuclear threats of China and North Korea confront Japan with an almost existential crisis.

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The sharpest edge of this new posture is the acquisition of “counter-strike” capabilities — including long-range missiles and a massive focus on unmanned and swarm drones. The budget earmarks significant capital for this purpose, signalling a doctrinal shift from passive defence to active deterrence.

The budget gives $6.2 billion to bolster Japan’s “standoff” missiles, $1.13 billion to upgrade Type-12 surface-to-ship missiles with a range of about 1,000 kilometres, and another $700 million specifically for unmanned assets. Of note is the deployment of the OZZ-5, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of mine countermeasures and seabed mapping.

Turbocharging an already impressive military

This technological sheen obscures a potent reality: Japan already possesses what is arguably the second most capable navy in Asia. While China’s PLAN wins on tonnage and hull count, the Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) wins on missile defence, early warning and seamanship meshed with electronic systems integration. Its surface fleet, anchored by the Maya-class Aegis destroyers and the Mogami-class frigates, is a high-tech fortress.

The Izumo and Kaga helicopter carriers handle F-35B Lightning jets, effectively giving Japan its first fixed-wing carrier capability since 1945. The real teeth of the JMSDF lie in the Taigei-class submarines — diesel-electric boats running on lithium-ion batteries that are quiet and deadly.

A nuclear Japan is no longer unthinkable

Yet conventional steel may not be enough, given the nuclear nightmare that confronts Japan from China and North Korea. Japan, post-1945, has relied on the US “nuclear umbrella”. But that has now developed a leak. Japan, the only victim of nuclear holocaust, knows it needs nuclear weapons to prevent the unthinkable from happening again.

This has reignited the nuclear debate in Japan.

Technologically, Japan is a screwdriver turn away from the bomb. It possesses the complete nuclear fuel cycle, a massive stockpile of separated plutonium at Rokkasho, and advanced solid-fuel rocketry. The barrier is political, not technical.

Moreover, as the population shrinks and the economy makes it difficult to maintain conventional parity with a giant China, the nuclear option becomes all the more seductive as an asymmetric balancer. It is increasingly viewed by Japanese realists not as an if, but as a when—a necessary insurance policy in a rough, uncertain, nuclear-armed world.

Sensing the fragility of the American guarantee, Japan is hedging its bets. The Quad is dead in the water and all but buried. It is good for photo opportunities, but poor for fighting. Consequently, Japan is reaching out bilaterally to partners who share its anxieties.

The India pivot

The relationship with India, in particular, has taken on a new intensity. Both nations are encircled by China; both possess strong navies; both are looking to deepen their strategic partnership. The recent transfer of the UNICORN (Unified Complex Radio Antenna) stealth mast technology to India is a signal of this shift — Japan rarely shares such sensitive kit. The military drills between the two have greater complexity and suggest a desire for genuine interoperability.

Ultimately, Japan is returning to the ethos of the Samurai, but with a postmodern twist. The ‘yoroi-kizome’ is complete. The armour is on. The Samurai now has the will to draw the sword. The pacifist dream is over; the realist future beckons Japan. India could be a natural and valuable partner for a shared blue-water future.

(The writer is a senior journalist with expertise in defence. Views expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Firstpost.)