A few weeks ago a sleek Japanese destroyer, the JS Chokai,
arrived in California on a special mission:
to be equipped with American Tomahawk cruise missiles, the first of hundreds that Japan plans to acquire.
The deployment of such long-range weapons,
with the ability to fire deep into mainland China and North Korea,
marks a milestone in Japan's transformation from a constitutionally pacifist state to a modern military power.
It breaks with a long-standing taboo against the ability to strike targets on enemy territory.
If Japan's hawkish new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, has her way, Japan's security evolution will quicken.
The country's military build-up is a response to increasingly aggressive neighbours in China and North Korea
and to an ever more unreliable ally in America.
The process began in earnest more than a decade ago,
following China's confrontation with Japan over the Senkaku islands,
which Japan controls and China claims.
A fresh diplomatic spat has now erupted over Ms Takaichi's support for Taiwan—
a reminder of how quickly a crisis between the two Asian giants could get out of hand
and of why Japan feels insecure.
The case for picking up the pace is compelling.
The late Abe Shinzo, prime minister most recently from 2012 to 2020,
charted a more muscular course for Japan.
He raised defence spending and loosened laws that restrict the use of force by Japan's armed forces.