How the F-35B conversion became policy

Japanese newspapers were discussing F-35B operations almost as soon as Kaga entered service in 2017. Early reports debated whether US Marine Corps aircraft would use the ships or whether Japan would eventually buy its own fighters. Public reporting probably followed a longer period of internal government consideration, although that timing is an inference rather than disclosed evidence. Between the ships' early-2000s conception and 2017, Russian aggression and stronger currents of US isolationism changed the strategic setting. Japan and other allies were being asked to provide more of their own defence, making the conversion a response to strategic change as well as the activation of an old design option.