That is, if neither China nor the US make Japanese worry that relying on US alliance for protection is not such a good idea after all.
Note that if one compares Japan with France or the UK, what Tamogami is saying is not completely unreasonable. And it is downright moderate if one compares with the United States or China. If Tamogami had been an American or Chinese general, he would probably have been branded a Leftist.
The Dream of General Tamogami
Tamogami is a former Chief of Staff of the Air Self Defense Force who was sacked in 2008 following the publication of an essay he wrote which dumped blame for the U.S. – Japan Pacific War into the laps of FDR, Chiang Kai-Shek and communist spies. In retirement Tamogami has since fallen in with the right-wing crowd in Japan, whose platform typically consists pinning World War II on China and communists, Japan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, and a general Japanese rearmament that goes beyond the current defense-only policy.
(...)
Tamogami’s book, available only in Japanese, spells out a new defense posture for Japan, one that is less reliant on the protection of the United States. Tamogami wants:
1. Japan to have the right to collective self-defense.
2. Japan to acquire a conventional retaliatory capability, i.e. Tomahawk-type cruise missiles placed on destroyers.
3. Build aircraft carriers, strategic bombers, and ship-to-shore missiles.
4. Acquire nuclear weapons, both for deterrence value and to increase Japan’s international standing.
5. Add 20,000 amphibious troops for defense of the Senkakus and other islands.
6. Increase Japan’s intelligence-gathering capabilities.
7. Make Japan an arms exporter.
(...)
To pay for it, Tamogami proposes a mixture of tax increases and elimination of government subsidies and entitlements. Raising taxes and eliminating entitlements to pay for weapons in peacetime is not popular in any country.
It should be said, though, that entire point of Tamogami’s rearmament program is not to pursue aggressive war, but to create a strong, independent Japan. (...) These are all things that Japan would need were it responsible for its own defense and not under the protection of the United States.