Following up on some of the latest posts about Japanese defence policy options and the meaning of the US-Japan Alliance, I thought to share with the rest of the community an op-ed I wrote for Asahi Shimbun the day before the announcement for the FX bid.
The article can be found at the link below:
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ2011121900
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In the discussions about the F-35, consistently, colleagues, friends, US-Japan experts, they all pointed to me to the notion that this was an obvious conclusion to favour the alliance. In truth, I struggle to agree with this idea - or at the very least, it requires a serious discussion as to what 'serving the alliance'
means. If the meaning concerns the procurement of capabilities that enable Japan to possess a functioning air defence system (in this case) to protect the archipleago and represent a credible military partner for the US in the region, than the F-35 doesn't really seem to represent a wise choice.

I hope you will enjoy the article and look forward to further thoughts.

Best wishes,
Alessio

Dr Alessio Patalano
Lecturer in War Studies (East Asian Warfare & Security) Department of War Studies King's College London