The global recession, domestic stagnation, internal political stresses, and the emergence of China have intensified longstanding challenges to the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan. Tokyo has been transforming its instruments of national power accordingly, and the most comprehensive change was the new national security strategy announced in December 2010, establishing a defense force whose use of multifunctional and flexible capabilities enable dynamic deterrence. U.S. Pacific Command can use the evolution of Japan’s security strategy to enhance its own influence as well as better serve regional security needs. Tokyo’s determination to pursue its own strategic direction is reflected in its annual budget, which allots over 1 percent of GDP to acquisitions programs and capability development, and is in fact a positive development for Asia-Pacific stability.