Pushing on an Open Door: Japan's Evolutionary Security Posture.

18 Ministry of Defense, Japan, "National Security Strategy of Japan", 20. 19 Hiroyuki Akita, " I Aragau Ukuraina, Nihon ni kyokun "mizukara tasukuru" sonae isoge i [From Ukraine's Fight, Japan Must Quickly Learn to Help Itself]", I Nikkei-shimbun, i April 25, 2022. As one observer remarked: "The question is whether the United States will really protect Japan if it finds itself in a situation like that of Ukraine."[11] And as Ground Self Defense Force (GSDF) Lieutenant General (ret.) Hirotaka Yamashita noted, there are "growing concerns among those involved in Japanese national security that the US might not actually come to help Japan when it comes down to it." 8 Ministry of Defense, Japan, "National Security Strategy of Japan", December 2022, https://www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/agenda/guideline/pdf/security%5fstrategy%5fen.pdf, 22. 9 Hiroyuki Akita, " I Aragau Ukuraina, Nihon ni yokun "mizukara tasukuru" sonae isoge i [From Ukraine's Fight, Japan Must Quickly Learn to Help Itself,]" I Nikkei-shimbun i , April 25, 2022. At the 2022 Shangri--La Dialogue, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned defense ministers from across the Indo-Pacific region that "Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.". [Extracted from the article]