Japan in March 2026: the most important developments in security
Japan's security in March 2026 was shaped by the war involving Iran and the shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. A Japanese-flagged container ship was damaged in the Persian Gulf on March 11, and another Japan-related commercial ship was damaged in the Gulf of Oman on March 6. The government said the closure of the strait was not yet a "survival-threatening" situation, then said the bar was high for sending warships and that there was no current plan to deploy the Self-Defense Forces on an escort mission. On March 19 Japan, Canada and European countries said they were willing to make efforts to reopen the strait. By March 22 Japan was considering sending troops for mine clearance in the strait after a ceasefire, and on March 30 it was working to form a multinational coalition for safe passage, a plan that drew some concerns. Japan also arranged to evacuate citizens from the Middle East, and the United States sent more than 2,200 Marines based in Okinawa to the region.
The defense build-up continued. The ruling coalition proposed a significant easing of rules on exporting lethal defense equipment. Japan planned to deploy its first domestically developed long-range missiles to a camp in Kumamoto on March 31, and it placed a missile unit on Yonaguni Island. Japan will join the U.S.-led Golden Dome missile defense project and equipped a destroyer to fire Tomahawk missiles. North Korea said Japan's missile expansion raises regional security risks, and Russia warned Japan against remilitarization.
Around Japan, North Korea fired about ten ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on March 14, landing outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The China Coast Guard said it expelled a Japanese vessel from waters around the Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu Dao. A member of the Self-Defense Forces broke into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo; the case was passed to prosecutors, China protested, and the National Police Agency called it an "extremely unusual and serious case."
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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