Last month, China and Russia flew warplanes together near its airspace, resulting in the scrambling of Japanese fighter jets, while a fleet of five warships from China and Russia circled Japan in Pacific waters in October.

In total, Japanese fighters reportedly scrambled more than 700 times between April 2020 and March this year, with two-thirds against Chinese warplanes and the rest mainly against Russians, according to Japan’s Defence Ministry.

Meanwhile, North Korea’s recent resumption of ballistic missile testing has sparked concern across the region, with South Korea and the US agreeing last week to update their wartime contingency plans.

“Japan faces different risks coming from multiple fronts,” said Heigo Santo, a defence expert and a professor at the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University in Tokyo, told AP.

Japan is currently ranked fifth globally in terms of military power, after the US, Russia, China and India.

The previous prime minister Shinzo Abe also sought to bolster the nation’s military role and budget during his conservative eight-year rule, including watering down Article 9 in the constitution to enable Japan to come to the defence of allies such as the US.