Japan Must Strengthen Its Defenses Against Disinformation

In a significant strategic shift, Japan is confronting the growing threat of disinformation with renewed urgency, though experts suggest its current approach may be misaligned with the actual challenges facing the nation.

Despite disinformation being a global concern, Japan has been slow to develop comprehensive countermeasures, largely because it hasn’t experienced foreign disinformation campaigns that significantly disrupted elections or social stability. The country’s distinctive language barrier and relatively high trust in traditional media have served as natural defenses against foreign information manipulation efforts.

Following the approval of a National Security Strategy in late 2022, the Japanese government launched a coordinated effort to counter disinformation. The strategy emphasizes bolstering capabilities to respond to information warfare by foreign actors through analysis of foreign-originated disinformation, strengthening external communications, and enhancing cooperation with non-governmental entities under a new government structure.

However, this foreign-focused approach overlooks a critical reality: most significant disinformation incidents in Japan have domestic origins. As a disaster-prone country, Japan has repeatedly seen misinformation spread during natural disasters, from the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake to the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year’s Day 2024, causing confusion in affected areas.

Several catalysts have spurred the government’s recent action. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine prompted former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to warn that “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.” Additionally, China’s information operations following Japan’s release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in August 2023—which included false claims about “radioactive water” and “nuclear-contaminated wastewater”—highlighted the potential for foreign actors to damage Japan’s international standing.

While the government has taken positive steps by recognizing disinformation as a security threat and engaging in international cooperation through mechanisms like the G7’s Rapid Response Mechanism, the EU-Japan Security and Defence Partnership, and NATO initiatives, experts identify several fundamental flaws in the current approach.

The government’s strategy heavily emphasizes reactive “debunking” of false information rather than proactive “prebunking”—preparing audiences to recognize and resist disinformation before it spreads. Though prebunking requires longer-term commitment, research suggests it’s more effective at mitigating disinformation risks. The lack of successful prebunking examples in Japan, combined with potential unfamiliarity with target audience information ecosystems, may explain this hesitancy.

Perhaps most critically, Japan lacks a whole-of-society approach to combating disinformation. Cooperation between government, private sector, media, academia, and civil society remains extremely limited. While the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications launched a Digital Positive Action project in January 2025 involving 19 private organizations to improve digital literacy, these initiatives remain narrow in scope.

Security experts recommend Japan mobilize more stakeholders in combating disinformation and incorporate more proactive measures, both domestically and internationally. Given the recent dismantling of disinformation countermeasures in the United States, Japan must develop international partnerships that don’t rely solely on American support, potentially finding reliable collaborators throughout the Indo-Pacific region and Europe.

By leveraging these international relationships, forming partnerships with non-governmental actors, and adopting prebunking methods, Japan can build a more robust and comprehensive defense against disinformation—addressing both foreign and domestic threats to its information environment.