TOKYO, December 25. /TASS/. The Japanese Defense Ministry plans to augment personnel levels in the country’s understaffed Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to raise actual troop strength up to the officially established level of 247,200 service members, by means of boosting pay for specific military service categories in a bid to address the chronic problem posed by the unpopularity of military service among young Japanese, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reports.
Actual voluntary recruitment numbers for the JSDF represent, at best, just 95% of the legally established level. Significant problems exist, particularly in recruiting naval personnel, due to the fact that recently the country's surface and submarine fleets have been actively undertaking long-distance voyages, thus increasing the hardships of service.
The Defense Ministry plans to bring the number of armed forces’ personnel up to the established level as soon as possible, and will then propose further increases. In order to boost voluntary recruitment, the ministry plans to hike the pay of soldiers and officers of the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, equivalent to the US Marine Corps, by 13%. The Japanese government will also boost pay for sailors on surface fleet ships and submarine by 10%.
Currently, a Japanese soldier aged 30 to 35 years old earns an average of 5.16 mln yen (more than $36,300 at current exchange rates) per year.