Commentary An optimist would suggest that at least Japan realizes it needs more money for defense. However, beyond that it’s hard to be too positive. The request was in the 2.6 percent increase range. And this is before Ministry of Finance is done adjusting that amount. Japanese defense budgets have been woefully underfunded for decades. Japanese officials make much of “consecutive annual increases” during the Abe administration and during the Suga administration. However, these increases have been tiny—and illusory. Japan, in fact, cut its defense budget every year for the decade before Shinzo Abe took over. So he was just trying to dig Japanese defense spending out of a hole. Compared to when Abe took office, Japanese defense spending has not increased very much at all. Something like a 15 percent increase overall. If your investment adviser earned you 15 percent over a decade, you’d fire him. How much should …