Background
Imagine that you are the prime minister of Japan. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, relations with your neighbor to the west, North Korea, have been tense. Military tensions have persisted as North Korea has made and then broken several agreements regarding its nuclear program. North Korea tested nuclear weapons in 2006 and 2009, and it has also test fired short-range ballistic missiles directly over Japan in an effort to intimidate your country. In late 2012, it also tested a new long-range rocket in defiance of international warnings. You won election in 2012 on a hawkish platform, calling for large increases in defense spending and the deployment of anti –missile weapons to protect your country from a North Korean launch.