Mainichi and Yomiuri reported on the Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium held in Tokyo on June 13-16. The commanders of the amphibious forces of 18 countries, including the United States and Australia, participated in the event. Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, and GSDF Chief of Staff Gen. Yoshida Yoshihide held a joint news conference….Read more

The significance of the Self-Defense Forces’ contribution to post-conflict nation-building is great. Efforts must continue to enhance trust in Japan, based on the SDF’s experience and achievements.   Today marks the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the U.N. Peacekeeping Activities Cooperation Law, which paved the way for the full-scale dispatch of the SDF overseas.   Based on the law,….Read more

On June 14, like-minded members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) launched the “Diet members’ league to support Self-Defense Forces (SDF) members” with the aim of seeking improvements in their working conditions. Former CDPJ leader Edano Yukio will chair the group. With an eye to capturing the conservative vote, the group intends to play up the fact that….Read more

Tokyo, June 15 (Jiji Press)–The role of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces in U.N. peacekeeping missions overseas is shifting to that of support for capacity building, three decades since the enactment of the law for the country’s cooperation with such missions.   Dispatches of small numbers of command staff and of personnel for educating foreign troops are on the rise, replacing large-scale….Read more

Nikkei reported that the Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo left its home port of Yokosuka on Monday, kicking off a deployment in the Indo-Pacific region that will last over four months. The paper wrote that the JS Izumo — currently being converted into an aircraft carrier — is escorted by the destroyers JS Takanami and JS Kirisame, a submarine, and several aircraft.….Read more

TOKYO – Wind energy infrastructure being installed across Japan was found interfering with Self-Defense Forces radars for detecting missiles, prompting the Defense Ministry to call for changes in some projects, multiple sources related to the matter said Saturday.   In some instances, the ministry also called for such infrastructure not to be installed in areas that had been singled out by….Read more

The Ministry of Defense (MOD) is poised to create the post of joint commander in charge of overseeing the operation of Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Force units in an integrated manner as well as to set up joint headquarters to support the commander, a government source told Ryukyu Shimpo on June 6. The ministry has already begun considering the….Read more

By Abiru Rui, member of the Editorial Board and a senior Political News Department staff writer of the Sankei Shimbun   On June 7, the cabinet decided on the “big-boned policy,” a guideline for economic and fiscal management that will also serve as the basis for budget compilation. In the policy, the government clearly lays out a timeline of five….Read more

NHK reported that the ruling LDP has drafted a policy manifesto for the July Upper House election in which it promises to secure “enough funding” for the SDF within five years starting in FY2023. This pledge was reportedly made with NATO’s goal of increasing their members’ defense budgets to 2% of GDP in mind. The draft also called for the….Read more