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This article looks at the Japanese military. Japan's "Peace Constitution," which went into effect in 1947, expressly forbids the Japanese from ever having armed forces. Nonetheless, the Maritime Self-Defense Force or the JMSDF--like its counterpart ground and air self-defense forces created in the 1950s--is a significant power. The JMSDF rates as the fourth most powerful navy in the world. Overall, Japan ranks among the top three or four countries in defense spending. For years, Japanese dealt with this apparent contradiction by not talking about it much, at least publicly. Japanese troops were used mostly in natural disasters and accidents, mounting rescue operations after earthquakes and plane crashes. But then, in the early 1990s, Japan began sending the SDF on peacekeeping missions abroad, to places like Cambodia and Mozambique. In 1993 North Korea test-launched its Nodong-1 missile into the Sea of Japan. The provocation forced Japan to regard the Pyongyang regime as a serious threat. Public opinion, traditionally antimilitarist, began to shift. The North Korean threat--together with the 9/11 terrorists attacks on America and China's buildup of its forces--is pushing Japan to face up to the thorny question of just how much of a military it really wants. Last week the Japanese Defense Agency issued a white paper urging the transformation of the SDF into a "more functional force" to cope with the new threats. The paper emphasized better "mobility and flexibility" and warned that Pyongyang is likely to increase the range of its missiles. A serious discussion has begun about amending the Constitution to recognize a military role for Japan.

The article presents information on the geographic and socio-demographic conditions of Cambodia, with special emphasis on its national defense. Spread across 181,040 square kilometers, Cambodia houses 13,363,421 people, as of July 2004 estimates. Officially, the literacy rate in Cambodia is 35%. A "Defence White Paper" was released in early 2000, which defined a military strategy of flexible and controlled response and outlined an ambitious plan for the reform and restructuring of the armed forces. Total active manpower estimates vary widely between some 40,000 and up to 110,000. The defence budget is US$112 million, which is 3% of GDP, as per 2001 estimates.