Japan Ground Self Defense Force soldier (left) assigned to, 32nd Infantry Regiment, and U.S. Army (right) assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, salute the Japanese and U.S. flags during the opening ceremony to Rising Thunder 2021 on Yakima Training Center, Dec. 1, 2021According to reports by the Japanese media, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida requested that the ministers of finance and defense raise defense spending by more than 50% over the next five years to a level of around 43 trillion Yen ($316 billion USD) or about 8.6 trillion Yen ($63.3 billion USD) per year, Jakub Wozniak reports in Overt Defense. The current five-year plan, which ends in April 2023, saw about 25.5 trillion Yen ($188 billion USD) spent on defense over the five-year period leading up to April 2023; the 2022 annual budget stands at 5.4 trillion Yen ($39.6 billion USD).
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