Japan’s ministries and agencies have closed their preliminary submissions for the fiscal-2026 budget, with general-account requests surpassing ¥122 trillion ($830 billion) for the first time. The figure, which the Finance Ministry will tally in early September, eclipses the current year’s ¥117.6 trillion record amid rising social-security costs and larger interest payments on government debt. Driving the increase is the Defense Ministry’s request for ¥8.8454 trillion, a 4.4% rise that would mark a fourth straight record. The proposal allocates ¥312.8 billion to acquire aerial, surface and underwater drones and sets aside ¥128.7 billion to build a multilayered coastal defense system dubbed “SHIELD,” designed to deploy those unmanned assets by 2027. About ¥1 trillion is earmarked for mass production of long-range stand-off missiles, including hypersonic glide weapons, as Tokyo accelerates a five-year, ¥43 trillion military build-up aimed at countering China and North Korea. Other agencies are also seeking larger envelopes. The Foreign Ministry asked for ¥874.3 billion to bolster disinformation defenses and improve protection for Japanese nationals overseas. The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry’s medical outlays would rise to roughly ¥48 trillion, while debt-service costs are projected to top ¥32 trillion because of higher long-term yields. The cabinet will negotiate the requests through the autumn before finalising a draft budget in December for submission to the Diet. Economists warn that spending growth continues to outrun Japan’s nominal GDP expansion, underscoring pressure on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government to find new revenue sources or curb expenditures.