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Sometimes it is hard for foreigners to remember that the Land of the Rising Sun with its whizzy technology is an old country, with a proud history and long traditions that far antedate new countries like the United States.
This is the first piece in a series “A Century After the Russo-Japanese War.” In the 100 years since the war began in 1904, Japan has gone from a regional power to world player, a place that it still holds today. Japan currently spends more money than on defense than other nations such as Britain. Russia spends in the same neighborhood and has roughly the same population, but Russia is an enormous country and must maintain a huge infrastructure in order to mount even a semblance of a defense. The Japanese Defense Agency can be found at www.jda.go.jp. For budget information, the Ministry of Finance (www.mod.go.jp has a good explanation of just what all has been budgeted.
The Russo-Japanese War was the culimination of Japan's rise from the re-opening of Japan to its decisive victory over a Western power, and the seminal one for its gallop through the 20th century. By many standards, this was the first modern war, fought with battleships and machine guns, 12 inch guns and at increasing ranges. [Article]
