Ever since he took office in mid-September, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan has repeatedly asserted that he will pursue "equality" in Tokyo's diplomatic and security relations with the United States.

Beyond contending he would "actively make proposals" on the Japan-US alliance, however, Hatoyama has not explained what his government would do to achieve that "equality." Here then are ten propositions on what Japan could do to bring it into an equal alliance with the US.

1) Take full responsibility for its own defense. That would require an amendment to the famed Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution, which forbids Japan from the "use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Much of that defense today is provided by US forces.

2) Emphasize naval forces to project power into the ocean and particularly south to the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea that are vital to the flow of oil and other resources to Japan. Those sea lanes are largely defended by the US now.

3) Revise the Japan-US security treaty to oblige Japan to come to the defense of the US just as the US is obliged to help defend Japan. Japan is not obligated to contribute to the defense of the US under the current, clearly unequal treaty.

4) Quadruple defense spending to $200 billion a year from its present $50 billion a year, to bring it up to four percent of gross national product, the same ratio as that in the US. Taxes would surely need to be raised as Japan today spends only one percent of its GNP on defense.

5) Enlarge the Self-Defense Force to 880,000 men and women from the present 240,000, which would be commensurate with the nation's population, as in the US. The SDF has long had difficulty filling its ranks with recruits so Japan might need to resort to conscription.

6) Expel most, if not all, US forces from Japan, including Okinawa. But those bases would be needed for the enhanced Self-Defense Force and thus could not be converted to civilian use. Jitsuro Terashima, a close adviser to Hatoyama, advocates having the US move its forces to Guam and Hawaii.

7) Remove the US nuclear umbrella, or extended deterrence, from Japan. Terashima considers it "an obvious relic of the Cold War." Instead, he suggests that Japan rely on a world without nuclear weapons as proposed by President Obama. But he does not say whether Japan should "go nuclear."

8) Take over development of missile defense from the US. For much of the last decade, the US has led the way and financed the project but has been supported by Japan and shared information, notably on North Korean shots, with Japan. A Hatoyama government pursuing equality is likely to end that cooperation.

9) Establish a department like the US Central Intelligence Agency or Britain's MI-6 to collect and analyze political, economic, and military intelligence. Today Japan relies on an inadequate research office attached to the cabinet and on whatever the US is willing to share.

10) Take the initiative in international negotiations. With one or two exceptions in the last 50 years, Japan has let the US, the Europeans, and most recently China be leaders in the hard work of negotiating. A Japan that seeks to be the equal of those nations would need to step up and take diplomatic risks.

Once the equality that Hatoyama seeks has been reached, he says Japan could be a bridge between what he sees as a rising China and a tottering America. That may be presumptuous as neither President Hu Jintao in Beijing nor President Barack Obama in Washington has given any sign that he feels a need for a bridge to the other.