Japan govt approves record 122 trillion yen budget

Tokyo: The Japanese government on Friday approved a record budget for the upcoming fiscal year, to pay for everything from bigger defence spending to...

Tokyo: The Japanese government on Friday approved a record budget for the upcoming fiscal year, to pay for everything from bigger defence spending to ballooning social security costs as inflation persists.

The 122.3-trillion-yen ($782 billion) budget for the fiscal year from April 2026 will include some nine trillion yen for defence spending, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aims to accelerate Tokyo's sweeping upgrade of its military in the face of worsening relations with China.

The defence ministry said in a briefing document that "Japan faces the most severe and complex security environment since the end of the war," stressing the need to "fundamentally strengthen" its defence capabilities.

At the core of its request is 100 billion yen for the so-called SHIELD coastal defence system, which would marshal drones to block any invasion by foreign troops.

Japan is hoping that SHIELD -- Synchronised, Hybrid, Integrated and Enhanced Littoral Defence -- will be completed by March 2028, with no details yet on which part of Japan's coastline it will be linked to.