All national dailies reported in their Thursday evening editions on Defense Minister Onodera’s tour of the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on Wednesday to observe the Aegis Ashore platform operated there by the U.S. military. Asahi and Nikkei wrote that Onodera held talks with DOD Missile Defense Agency Director Samuel Greaves and confirmed close cooperation between the United States and Japan for Tokyo’s early procurement of the Aegis Ashore system.

Friday morning’s Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri, and Nikkei ran follow-up reports saying that Onodera expressed hope that the Aegis Ashore system that Japan plans to introduce will be able to intercept cruise missiles as well as ballistic missiles. Yomiuri speculated that the defense minister made this remark with China’s development of long-range cruise missiles in mind.