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These days, no one is doing it better than Japan – especially from the point of view of the American alliance. From resisting Chinese and Russian aggression to securing reliable supply chains, Japan and America work together better, and with greater urgency to integrate and collaborate, than any other alliance around the world. In fact, Japan has pushed all its chips to the center of the table to make the biggest bet there is in America. It’s time to say out loud what policymakers have already admitted behind closed doors: for the United States, Japan has become a new special relationship in the world’s most important region.
Americans will always have a unique love for the United Kingdom where our history, values, and shared bloodshed, as well as family ties, will forever keep us close. And our intelligence relationship, unparalleled in the world, will continue to make our alliance a great asset to Washington and London. However, in terms of pure military and economic value, the UK alliance provides significantly less than Japan. Given London’s recent economic outreach to Beijing, it has also become a less reliable ally across the Indo-Pacific.
Geography is important. Japan, sitting at the center of the original chain of islands, blocks China’s access to the Western Pacific and protects the US from accessing the world’s most powerful markets. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s public statements have long expressed a desire to drive America out of the Pacific. When it comes to deterring Chinese aggression and protecting the First Island Chain that the US National Defense Strategy 2026 sites as the most important, Japan is irreplaceable and its naval forces have long surpassed those of the UK, Australia, or Europe. Apart from Taiwan, no one else in the world has rolled up its sleeves more often in the face of Chinese air pollution – 366 times last year. And when it comes to Taiwan, another important US interest given its location and its centrality to the AI revolution, Japan is the frontrunner. While other countries avoid dealing openly with Taiwan, Tokyo works with Taipei publicly, cooperates with the United States to strengthen deterrence, and is the most supportive of protecting the status quo across the Strait.
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Ensuring America has access to Indo-Pacific affairs, and without a strong US-Japan alliance this too would be very problematic. Japan hosts about 60,000 American service members and contractors, as well as about 35,000 other civilians – the largest US military presence outside the United States. Japan covers about 75% of those costs, an average payment of $1.5 billion a year from Tokyo under the current agreement, which is another big bet for America. Japan is also home to the US’s most forward-deployed strike group in the world, at the Yokosuka naval base, which provides a formidable and persistent interdiction along the Taiwan Strait.
And Japan continues to step up, heeding President Trump’s call for broader burden sharing. Japan’s military spending increased by 9.7% to $62.2 billion by 2025. Under Prime Minister Takaichi’s leadership, Japan’s defense spending reached 2% of GDP by 2026, two years ahead of schedule, earning praise from across Washington. Japan’s defense budget has set a new record for 12 consecutive years, and the current Defense Construction Plan allocates nearly $275 billion over the five years to 2027. This is putting your money where your mouth is when it comes to the alliance.
Japan is also thinking strategically, ensuring that its American allies have the weapons they need by co-producing advanced US weapons systems at scale. Together, we are expanding joint production programs for the AIM-120 AMRAAM and quadrupling production of SM-3 Block IIA connectors in Japan. This makes Japan a defense industry partner, not just a consumer, adding to the collective production capacity to address the weapons shortage. Integrating 400 US Tomahawk missiles into the Japanese navy alongside the 2025 deployment of the Typhon missile system to mainland Japan increases the interoperability of the Japan Self-Defense Force while introducing real countermeasures capabilities.
At the same time, Tokyo is making the necessary intelligence reforms to develop a world-class intelligence community, which can and should be the “Sixth Eye,” a member of the current Anglo-centric intelligence sharing group called the “Five Eyes” made up of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It is a historic change in a country concerned with privacy and attention to the lessons of the past, but it is necessary because of Chinese and Russian influence and will further strengthen the US-Japan Alliance.
Japan’s efforts do not stop at its shores either. After the successful Trump-Takaichi Summit in March, the Alliance has shifted to overexploitation of precious metals, establishing lower prices, exploring new mining ventures, and integrating our private sectors. At the same time, the Takaichi government pursued policies that strengthened relations with Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, strategic arenas that play a major role in the broader competition with China. In Europe, Japan has been a major donor to Ukraine as well, promising $6 billion in 2026 alone and providing $8.7 billion in budget support from 2022. When it comes to Africa, Japan has pledged $30 billion from 2022, moving to a business-oriented relationship that puts trade over aid, in line with the Trump administration’s policies.
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Recognizing – or perhaps fearing – our closeness, China has tried to strangle Japan by repeatedly sailing through the Senkaku Islands and by limiting its access to valuable minerals. Beijing has even arrested Japanese businessmen in Beijing on blatant charges of kidnapping. The result has been to strengthen Tokyo’s determination and emphasize the urgency of working in partnership with the United States.
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We are indeed at a great time with Japan, where we stand shoulder to shoulder to protect our shared interests, our supply chain, and protect our partners and partners around the world from bad actors. In meeting after meeting, at the highest and lowest levels, it is clear that Japanese and American officials see the world, both its opportunities and its threats, from the same clear perspective and agree on what to do about it.
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Washington should acknowledge this by admitting Japan to the Five Eyes club when it is ready, setting up more defense co-production facilities on Japanese soil, and working with Tokyo to develop key mineral processing facilities around the world through co-financed processing and extraction agreements.
If only all other relationships were this special.
