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Japan's military budget hikes and its cozying up to NATO member states over the past years pose dual threats to regional and global security, said a Japanese international politics expert. The country's Ministry of Defense on Thursday asked for a record 7.7 trillion yen (about $53 billion) in spending for the 2024 fiscal year, hitting an all-time high. Syunnkiti Takayama, a lawyer who is proficient in Japan's pacifist constitution and international politics, said that bloating the military budget is a move in the wrong direction.