Japan’s Defense Ministry reached less than 50% of its recruitment target for its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in fiscal year 2022, by far the lowest performance on record, Nikkei reported.

The SDF reportedly only added about 4,300 members, roughly 46% of its goal of 9,245. The previous low was set in fiscal year 2018, when the SDF only hit 72% of its recruitment goal.

[That’s bad news for the US, which hoped to get Japan to take a more assertive role in regional security. And it comes at a bad time, as China goes from assertive to outright aggressive. — Ed]