Japan has approximately 247,000 members in its military, which is only 90% of its ideal size. Despite their attempts to recruit new members, there is still a shortage.
A senior Ministry of Defense official said the country’s declining birth rate is reducing the pool of recruits interested in serving in the Self-Defense Forces, and measures like lowering resistance to tattoos may prove an incentive.
The government will consider allowing tattooed youths to join the Japan Self-Defense Forces if they are otherwise qualified, as the SDF faces a chronic personnel shortage amid the low birthrate. A senior Defense Ministry official recently admitted the need at a parliamentary session reviewing the current guideline banning people from…