Debt of Honour

[ik9000]

So I posted this in another thread but it got swamped in Crimean angst....

Anyone read Debt of Honour? I read it recently and the plot line is Japan gets all imperially ambitious again and starts trying to take back some of the Islands it lost in WW2. Then recently I read Japan was boosting its military spending. Then I find the following...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25411653

Over the next five years, Japan will buy hardware including drones, stealth aircraft and amphibious vehicles.

The military will also build a new marine unit, an amphibious force capable of retaking islands.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...16773197120350

Japan plans to establish a 3,000-troop unit specializing in amphibious operations "as swiftly as possible," the defense minister said, publicly outlining details of the new unit for the first time

To train large numbers of personnel in a short time, Japan plans to step up exercises with the U.S. military, particularly the Marines, Mr. Onodera said. This week, troops from the two nations are finishing a seven-week amphibious exercise called "Iron Fist 2014" at Camp Pendleton in California, with 270 Japanese troops and 500 U.S. troops participating.

Mr. Onodera said Japan hopes to use training facilities to be built on the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam as some U.S. Marines transfer from Okinawa.

But many on the left in Japan think Mr Abe is using the threat from China to pursue his own nationalist dreams, our correspondent adds.

Japanese troops in Guam? Don't these people read Tom Clancy?

[Spreadie]

Yep, it was a great read as were most of Clancy's novels. I preferred Red Storm Rising - I really ought to get them out of the loft and go through them again.

[ik9000]

Yep, it was a great read as were most of Clancy's novels. I preferred Red Storm Rising - I really ought to get them out of the loft and go through them again.

Yes that is a good one. All about the Soviets invading Europe and WW3 during the cold war.... hope that isn't too close to the topical ban. It's a good read though

[ik9000]

oh and anything from recent years with TC on the cover 1) is probably not written by him anymore but sub-standard shadow authors and 2) is drivel IMO. Real shame.

[Galant]

Can't put anything past any nation, but I don't think Japan will be heading that way for a while. I think it's far more likely that these are all defensive moves against a possible Chinese threat, not to mention having North Korea sitting close by.

Either way, Japan has an aging population to deal with. If they don't do something soon they'll be brought down by internal issues before external ones.

[ik9000]

Can't put anything past any nation, but I don't think Japan will be heading that way for a while. I think it's far more likely that these are all defensive moves against a possible Chinese threat, not to mention having North Korea sitting close by.

Either way, Japan has an aging population to deal with. If they don't do something soon they'll be brought down by internal issues before external ones.

you could say the same about the UK. Aging population nearing retirement and the most rapid segment of young growth is in the lower demographics.

[TooNice]

Japan's situation is far more critical than the UK though. Japan is still a very closed country with very strict rules about immigration. Though the UK has started tightening the borders recently, it's still nowhere as strict like Japan. The UK population is still expected to increase in the next few decades, whereas the population in Japan is already in decline. Of course, there are people in the UK nervous about the impact of immigration, hence the calls for tighter control, but numbers at least aren't the problem.

[Galant]

No where near to the same degree though. Japan has a very low and still declining birth rate. They are either going to have to open up to wider immigration or sort their current social problems, or both, or else they will lose their workforce.

A Japanese dads' army isn't going to be much cop in defending those islands!

[TheAnimus]

Just look at how China is behaving with regards to the Vietnamese and Japanese in territorial disputes. Given how Japan has in recent times been effectively a protectorate of the USA, I can understand them wanting their own forces capable of holding these islands. The USA I doubt would want to get into a battle over some worthless bit of land.

[TooNice]

To be honest, I never really understood the length most countries will go to put a stake in some island with limited economical or even strategic benefits. It just doesn't seem rational. If a person wants to risk his life for pride, that's his choice, but when the state does it, it is spending both the tax payers money and risking blood.

[Kumagoro]

I am of the opinion that the UK has more of a problem than Japan.

The benefit culture of Britain promotes the growth of Chav scum. What good are lots of younger people when they don't work and live on benefits.

It's sink or swim in Japan hence why they generally have a lot of savings.

[Galant]

I am of the opinion that the UK has more of a problem than Japan.

The benefit culture of Britain promotes the growth of Chav scum. What good are lots of younger people when they don't work and live on benefits.

It's sink or swim in Japan hence why they generally have a lot of savings.

What problem are we talking about?

In terms of a shrinking and aging population there's no contest - http://rt.com/news/156872-japan-chil...ation-decline/

[Kumagoro]

In terms of, 'oh my look what a terrible position Japan are in, lucky we don't have that problem', (and the problems that brings). When effectively we are and it's just that it is disguised by a higher birth rate of future slackers.

[Galant]

Except that entitlement policies can be removed or quickly changed. Generations of children can't be voted into existence.

[Kumagoro]

True, but it's not going to stop them being rough and thick.

[Spreadie]

The benefit culture of Britain promotes the growth of Chav scum. What good are lots of younger people when they don't work and live on benefits.

Chavs fulfil a important role in society. They give us something to hate, kind of the pedestrian equivalent of a tractor - everybody loves to hate a tractor.

Chavs also contribute to the economy - Someone has to buy Argos jewellery.