The Japanese government has sent a team to the Philippines to conduct a five-day study on ways to cooperate with the sometimes violent anti-narcotics campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The 15-member mission is made up of officials from the Foreign Ministry, the National Police Agency, the health ministry, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japanese Embassy in Manila.
Katsuyuki Kawai, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said during a welcome ceremony at the embassy Monday that the prime minister and Duterte agreed in October during their Tokyo summit that cooperating on anti-drug measures is important.