Internationalism No. 85, March 2026 Page 5 In the columns of The Nikkei on October 21 st , foreign policy commentator Hiroyuki Akita wrote that the new Japanese prime minister’s mandate would be defined by a far more consequential challenge : forging a system of government capable of functioning under the duress of war . For Akita, emphasising the need to prepare for a ‘wartime’ regime serves to highlight that Japan is under severe stress . Tokyo has enjoyed a long period of peace and has been able to deal with peacetime crises , even largescale ones such as the pandemic of the century . The war in Ukraine has ushered in a turbulent global situation, reminiscent of the uncertainty of the 1930s. To confront this, Tokyo needs a government structure capable of rapidly shifting from peacetime routines to an emergency footing . This is a dilemma that does not concern Japan alone, but Japan finds itself in an even more perilous position than Europe [.....