Japan’s national cyber security strategy: problem field and approach’s traps

This article analyzes the approaches, challenges, and outcomes in developing and implementing national cybersecurity strategies, framing them through the concept of cyber power within neoclassical realism. Strengthening cyber power emerges as an independent variable, driven by the dynamics of the international system and presenting a persistent, shared external challenge across states. Each state crafts its response to this challenge based on intervening variables, with Japan serving as a critical case study to illustrate several key factors. The article asserts that Japan’s latest cybersecurity strategy, which ambitiously targets “active defense” and seeks parity with the United States, is unfeasible. Domestic political constraints fuel this impracticality. Political elites hesitate to independently and decisively enact essential legislation, while an entrenched reliance on the United States-termed Americentrism further complicates progress. Beyond Japan’s case, the analysis probes the risks of outsourcing a disproportionate share of national security responsibilities to external partners. Such delegation presents severe drawbacks: states forfeit technological sovereignty by favoring borrowed technologies over homegrown innovation, deepen their political dependence, expose regional security to threats, and gain little practical benefit from cooperative efforts. This conceptualization of cyber power and cybersecurity highlights a core principle: bolstering national cybersecurity demands each state’s independent initiative. The findings enrich debates about security in an emerging multipolar world and inform national security policies.