Asia wrap: The rising sun re-arms

Tokyo woke to a market that felt more like a victory parade than a trading session. The Nikkei 225 didn’t just edge past 50,000 — it blew through it, marking a symbolic full circle for a nation that once wore its deflationary scars like a badge of restraint. Today, restraint is out, and rearmament — economic and literal — is in. Under Sanae Takaichi’s watch, Japan’s markets are rediscovering the animal spirits they buried three decades ago in the ashes of the bubble.

The rally isn’t just about stocks — it’s about narrative. Takaichi has fused industrial pragmatism with national ambition, and traders smell policy fuel thick enough to ignite both growth and pride. Her pro-stimulus stance has given Japanese equities the kind of propulsion only found when fiscal engines and political will fire in sync. The yen’s softness against the dollar added the tailwind exporters love, turning the equity boards in Marunouchi and Roppongi Hills into ticker-tape carnivals of green.

Behind the euphoria lies a far more profound shift — Japan is finally taking off the gloves. The postwar taboo around defense has been quietly dismantled, replaced by a muscular new vision that treats deterrence as both necessity and opportunity. Tokyo’s new coalition, linking Takaichi’s Liberal Democrats with the reformist Ishin party, is determined to turn Japan’s small defense industry into a global player. The timing is exquisite: as global defense budgets balloon in the shadow of Ukraine and Taiwan, Japan’s conglomerates — Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Mitsubishi Heavy — are being recast as the quiet titans of a new geopolitical supply chain.

This isn’t about saber-rattling; it’s about survival and leverage. Defense spending, once politically radioactive, is now the cornerstone of a national modernization drive. Takaichi’s pledge to lift defense expenditure to 2% of GDP this fiscal year, two years ahead of schedule, sent an unmistakable signal: Japan is done apologizing for its strength. Trump’s imminent arrival in Tokyo — and his blunt demand that allies “pay up” — only sharpens the theater. The optics will play well on both sides: a U.S. president touting shared burden, and a Japanese prime minister proving she can shoulder it.

Japan’s defense giants are already seeing orders swell. Mitsubishi Heavy is retooling for long-range missile production and building frigates for Australia — an unprecedented export win. NEC’s defense division is expanding headcount at wartime speed, and even the once-cautious Mitsubishi Electric is talking openly about doubling defense revenue by decade’s end. These are no longer sideline projects; they’re central pillars of Tokyo’s new growth strategy.

Culturally, the transformation may be even more remarkable than the economics. The generation that once flinched at the words “arms export” is fading, replaced by one that sees defense tech as just another high-margin frontier — no different from semiconductors or robotics. Japan’s moral calculus is shifting: deterrence is no longer an uncomfortable inheritance, but an insurance policy in an uncertain world.

For traders, this all translates into momentum that feels almost structural. The Nikkei’s breakout isn’t a technical fluke — it’s the pricing of a national renaissance. Japan, once the patient in the global recovery ward, is now the one writing prescriptions: fiscal firepower, industrial mobilization, and political clarity. The Takaichi era has barely begun, but already Tokyo’s trading desks are treating her policies like the second coming of Abenomics — only this time, the arrows are sharper and tipped with steel.

In a world of brittle alliances and inflation-fatigued growth stories, Japan has rediscovered something rare: conviction. And for now, that’s worth every tick above 50,000.