{"id":2007,"date":"2026-04-09T22:26:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/2007\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:26:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:26:38","slug":"japan-set-to-revive-wwii-military-titles-in-controversial-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan set to revive WWII military titles in controversial shift"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japan<\/a>\u2019s government plans to revive the military ranks used by its armed forces before and during World War II, in a symbolic gesture to please conservatives that analysts warn could stoke regional tensions.The plan, first floated in November after the ruling <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/liberal-democratic-party-japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Liberal Democratic Party<\/a> had struck a coalition deal with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), appeared to have been pushed by senior JIP members, the Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The LDP has reportedly agreed to the change on the grounds that it will align with \u201cinternational standards\u201d, paving the way for legal revisions in the months ahead. If enacted, Japan\u2019s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) would reintroduce the ranks last used by the imperial Japanese military in the 1930s and 1940s.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While Japan\u2019s military uses English-language ranks in international settings, the SDF has since its foundation adopted Japanese terms distinct from the imperial era, according to Go Ito, a professor of international relations at Tokyo\u2019s Meiji University.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A Japanese soldier watches the suburbs of Shanghai ablaze during World War II in this undated colourised photograph. Photo: Getty Images\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a7a66d5a-a0e4-4dd7-a009-6d788cf282e1_d0ea389c.jpg\" title=\"A Japanese soldier watches the suburbs of Shanghai ablaze during World War II in this undated colourised photograph. Photo: Getty Images\"\/>A Japanese soldier watches the suburbs of Shanghai ablaze during World War II in this undated colourised photograph. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIntroducing these ranks is just a case of doing the same as other countries, including China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army,\u201d he told This Week in Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s government plans to revive the military ranks used by its armed forces before and during World War&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[1017,2305,549,12,2307,2301,8,2308,177,2309,179,2306,2302,2240,1922,180,178,2304,2303],"class_list":{"0":"post-2007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-article-9","9":"tag-asahi","10":"tag-beijing","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-global-times","13":"tag-go-ito","14":"tag-japan","15":"tag-japan-innovation-party-jip","16":"tag-japans-politics","17":"tag-japanese-defence-agency","18":"tag-japanese-politics","19":"tag-keishi-abe","20":"tag-korean-central-news-agency","21":"tag-liberal-democratic-party","22":"tag-north-korea","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-politics-of-japan","25":"tag-robert-dujarric","26":"tag-sdf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}