TOKYO - A recent open day at a Japanese military base near Tokyo was a fun family outing but, despite the games and snacks, the army recruitment stand was bereft of visitors.

“This is the reality. The festival is always packed but no one comes,” confessed one of the two soldiers on duty.

Unwanted leaflets were lying on a table next to a green armoured vehicle.

Japan has massively upped its defence spending in recent years, alarmed by China’s growing assertiveness in the region and the frequency of North Korea’s missile tests.

But a report by a panel of experts in July highlighted an “extremely high” risk that the armed forces would be weakened because of a lack of personnel.

Although numbers fluctuate from year to year, since 1990 the strength of the Self-Defence Forces, as Japan’s military is known, has fallen by more than 7 per cent to under 230,000.

In 2022, fewer than 4,000 people joined up, undershooting the target by more than half. The last time its objective was met was in 2013.

‘Ashamed’

Many advanced economies are having problems recruiting enough people, with the situation particularly acute in Japan, where one in 10 people is 80 or over.

But according to current and former soldiers, it is not just demographics that is to blame.

“I was ashamed to say that I was in the Self-Defence Forces. It didn’t make me proud at all,” said Mr Yuichi Kimura, 45, a former parachutist who now runs a firm helping former soldiers get civilian jobs.

Morale is low, he said, due to poor pay and a lack of ambition on the part of the armed forces, whose role since World War II has been exclusively defensive, in line with Japan’s pacifist Constitution.

Many join up hoping to help during natural disasters, but are dismayed to find themselves doing military tasks.

“Most soldiers weren’t thinking at all about national defence (when they joined),” said Mr Kohei Kondo, 25, a former sergeant.

Japan’s Defence Ministry insists it recruits only suitable candidates but, according to media reports, standards have fallen, including when it comes to psychological tests.

In June, two people were killed by a new recruit in a shooting incident at a military firing range.

Japan “recruits just about anybody because no one expects an actual armed conflict”, said Mr Kimura, the former paratrooper.

Sexual harassment

In an effort to halt the decline, in 2018 Japan increased the maximum age for new soldiers to 32 from 26.

Another solution, the July report said, is to use more unmanned vehicles in the air, on sea and on land.

The army is even reportedly considering allowing recruits with tattoos – markings traditionally associated with yakuza gangsters.

Japan also aims to increase the proportion of women by 2030 to 13 per cent, from 9 per cent at present.

Featuring photos of smiling servicewomen, the Defence Ministry website promises “an environment adapted to women”.

But according to professor of military sociology and gender sociology Fumika Sato from Hitotsubashi University, there is a considerable gap with the “reality on the ground”.

The army is “an environment conducive to harassment and sexual violence”, she said.

The army has been roiled for the past year by a series of damaging revelations of sexual assault within its ranks.

It started when former soldier Rina Gonoi went public with explosive allegations of abuse that drew major attention.

There is no concrete evidence of a link, but in the year to March 2023, the number of female recruits tumbled 12 per cent, having previously risen every year since 2017.

“Things were happening in my company that could have had the same repercussions,” admitted former soldier Kodai Suzuki, 27.

A serving junior officer said on condition of anonymity: “What parents would let their daughter join such an institution?” AFP