Due to the risk of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific, Tokyo and Washington authorities announced that Japan is seeking to purchase hundreds of US-built TOMAHAWK cruise missiles, continuing which is the major defense buildup since the WWII and the end of its longtime pacifist constraints. The purpose of the purchase of up to 500 cruise missiles is to increase Japan’s long-range strike capability, in the meantime of receiving some results from the ambitious national hypersonic program in progress. According to Ichiro Fujisaki, former Japanese ambassador to the United States, Japan has always wanted to limit its defense spending and try not to acquire second-strike capability until now, but now, the uncertainty of the future in the Pacific does not permit to do that anymore. The new cruise missiles capability should represent a conventional deterrent against the threat posed by China and North Korea and their long-range ballistic capabilities. Japanese intentions, regarding the acquisition and the growing defense budget, have the full support of the Biden administration, which is seeking to empower allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific in order to contain China’s expansion. The famous, ‘combat-proven”, TOMAHAWK cruise missiles or Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM), with their 1,000-mile-plus range, would provide the capability to strike targets on mainland China as in North Korea. In accordance with the international media, polls have showed that post-Ukraine, Japanese public supporting the rearmament has clearly risen, overpassing the 60 percent. Some authorities of Tokyo’s Government took the extraordinary step of saying the defense budget could reach the 2 percent of GDP by 2027 — setting Japan as the world’s third-largest defense budget after the United States and China. Washington and Tokyo already cooperate closely in military technology as the F-35 fighter jet and the AEGIS missile defense system show, both built by US contractor Lockheed Martin. They run joint amphibious, air-naval and ballistic missile defense exercises at sea, including a successful one last month off Hawaii. After this bilateral announcement, the next step is for Tokyo to submit a formal request to purchase the new weapon systems.