Japan’s Changing Arctic Policy in a New Geopolitical Landscape

On 29 June 2026, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed the Headquarters for Ocean Policy to begin revising Japan’s Arctic Policy, Japan’s first comprehensive Arctic policy document (2015). Drawing on official documents and scholarly literature, this article traces the evolution of Japan’s Arctic policy since it obtained observer status in the Arctic Council in 2013, focusing on security, and asks why the revision was launched in 2026 and how the changing geopolitics of the Arctic have shaped it. The article argues that the revision results from the convergence of domestic factors – economic expectations regarding resources and shipping routes, the commissioning of Japan’s first icebreaking Arctic research vessel Mirai II, and growing interest within the Diet and the policy community – with international factors, including Russia’s militarization of the Arctic following its invasion of Ukraine, China’s deepening Arctic engagement and Sino-Russian cooperation, the US heightened strategic attention to the North American Arctic, NATO’s northern enlargement, and the functional transformation of the Arctic Council. It concludes that Japan should strengthen its contribution to a rules-based maritime order, pursue multilayered Arctic diplomacy with like-minded partners, and use science diplomacy strategically, while carefully balancing alliance-oriented security responses against its non-confrontational role in Arctic scientific cooperation.