This week, Tokyo hosted the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee, which brought together the two countries' defense and foreign ministers. Although these “2+2 meetings” are fairly mundane and routine occurrences, this one had unusual importance: accelerating the shift from coordination to integration. This was the basic task set forth at the April summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. It represents a significant evolution of the U.S.-Japanese alliance.
For the majority of the alliance's existence, the United States and Japan had largely separate roles, missions, and capabilities. Japan's Self-Defense Forces served as the alliance's defensive “shield,” while the U.S. military provided the offensive “spear.” This shield and spear division of labor gave each ally different tasks, putting the onus on alliance managers to coordinate these distinct lines of effort.…
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