Politics
Think Tank Urges Japan to Consider Foreign SDF Recruits
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation handed Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi a set of proposals on strengthening the Self-Defense Forces' personnel base, including a recommendation to consider recruiting foreign nationals as the population shrinks. The proposal limits the idea to duties that do not involve the exercise of public authority or the formation of state intent, and to nationals of allied and like-minded countries, with the level of classified access to be examined. Online, the response was almost entirely refusal, centred on information security and on loyalty in a crisis.