recruiting soldiers is difficult, japan's self-defense forces offers a "bigger steak"
2024-09-02
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pan xiaoduo, our special correspondent in japan
the financial times reported on august 30 that japan's self-defense forces are facing serious difficulties in recruiting soldiers. the self-defense forces have begun to use "better beds and bigger steaks" as selling points to try to fill the huge gap in recruiting soldiers.
japan's "sankei shimbun" previously reported that data released by the japanese ministry of defense this year showed that the 2023 self-defense forces recruitment plan was to recruit a total of 19,598 people, and the actual number of recruits was 9,959, accounting for 51% of the planned number, a decrease of 15 percentage points compared with 2022, a record low. not only that, the number of people who joined the self-defense forces and then retired midway is also increasing year by year. the main reasons for the "difficulty in conscription" phenomenon include population decline and an increase in the effective job-seeking ratio of high school graduates. to address this problem, the japanese ministry of defense has established a "talent security review committee" and is considering discussing reform plans from three aspects: improving the attractiveness of the profession by improving the treatment of self-defense forces officers, using artificial intelligence technology to improve the "unmanned" operation efficiency of the troops, and selecting talents from external forces such as veterans.
the financial times reported that improving living conditions at the self-defense forces bases and raising the living standards of the self-defense forces soldiers are important measures for japan to improve the conscription situation. the "improving living and service environment" manual produced by the ministry of defense provides a detailed introduction, including promises to improve the barracks' bathrooms and toilets, renovate single rest rooms, improve privacy protection in sleeping areas, build capsule-style independent bedrooms on the navy self-defense force ships, and purchase automatic lawn mowers to reduce the workload of soldiers. improving the quality of food at the self-defense forces bases is also one of the key links, and "improving the quality and weight of steaks" is one of the latest measures. according to the japanese zakzak news network, experts said that as japan's labor force population continues to decline, measures such as improving treatment and adopting new technologies will still not fundamentally change the difficult situation of conscription.
the japanese self-defense forces' conscription efforts have also targeted poor families in the country. in the fall of 2023, the self-defense forces' distribution of conscription brochures to children's canteens in sapporo, hokkaido, caused dissatisfaction among local parents and canteen operators. 90 local children's canteens received an email from the sapporo local cooperation headquarters of the self-defense forces asking "whether brochures can be distributed", of which only 10 agreed. local residents said that the place that was originally a shelter for poor children was shrouded in the shadow of the "conscription system." some analysts say that the service age of the japanese self-defense forces is 18 to 33 years old, and targeting children is extremely inappropriate and can even be called "aggression." ▲# hundreds of reviews#
