The Japanese Defense Ministry has asked for a huge amount of money, $53 billion, to improve its military. They want to make their defense stronger due to worries about safety in their region. The budget is higher than before and continues a trend of increasing budgets for 12 years.

The plan says they’ll spend a lot of the money, about $5.2 billion, on getting better at “standoff” defense. This means they want missiles that can be fired far away from danger, even from their new fighter planes.

They’re also setting aside around $6.41 billion for getting important ammunition to be better at fighting. They changed their plan for safety in December, saying they want to be able to fight back and spend more on defense over the next five years.

Because of concerns from China, North Korea, and Russia, Japan is changing how it defends itself. They’re spending around $4.11 billion on getting faster at moving their military to islands far away. They also want to build two new ships with special missile systems from the United States.

Japan is also working with the United States to make a special weapon to counter fast hypersonic missiles from other countries. They’re spending money on new fighter jets with help from Britain and Italy.

By next year, Japan plans to make a new place where they can control their military better. This place will be in Tokyo and help the different parts of their military work together.