Japan:
Military & Transnational Issues


Military branches	Japanese Defense Agency (JDA): Ground Self-Defense Force (Rikujou Jietai, GSDF), Maritime Self-Defense Force (Kaijou Jietai, MSDF), Air Self-Defense Force (Nihon Koku-Jieitai, ASDF) (2006)
Military service age and obligation	18 years of age for voluntary military service (2001)
Manpower available for military service	males age 18-49: 27,003,112 females age 18-49: 26,153,482 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service	males age 18-49: 22,234,663 females age 18-49: 21,494,947 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military age annually	males age 18-49: 683,147 females age 18-49: 650,157 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	0.8% (2006)

Disputes - international	the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kuril Islands," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Japan and South Korea claim Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do) occupied by South Korea since 1954; China and Taiwan dispute both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting