The Defense Agency said Monday it would maintain the current system that allows only civilian officials to directly advise its director general. Self-Defense Forces officers and some lawmakers had demanded that uniformed officers be given more say in the operations of the nation's military. In August, ...
The Defense Agency has concluded that a senior Ground Self-Defense Force officer's recent drafting of a constitutional amendment did not breach the principle of civilian control over the military. The officer handed the draft to Gen Nakatani, a House of Representatives member and former Defense ...
Japan and the United States signed a pact Tuesday allowing "comprehensive cooperation" on transfers of technologies related to missile-defense systems. The agreement is expected to ramp up business between Japanese and American defense companies, which are eager to design, produce and sell missile defense systems ...
The government announced Friday plans to conduct a sweeping overhaul of its defense policy, adjusting Japan's armed forces to better handle new threats such as terrorism and giving them a greater global role. China and North Korea are identified in the review as key threats ...
Since their establishment in 1954, the Self-Defense Forces have never had to be mobilized to defend Japan from attack. The forces over the last five decades of Cold War peace have instead often engaged in nonmilitary tasks as disaster relief. SDF elements have participated in international ...
The government will not begin controversial research into long-range precision missile technology, according to the fiscal 2005-2009 midterm defense buildup plan handed to the ruling bloc Thursday. The plan was to be approved Friday by the Cabinet together with the new National Defense Program Outline. The ...
The government's new basic defense policy will limit arms exports to missile defense-related products developed with the United States, and America would be the only recipient, politicians and government officials involved in this issue said Tuesday. The policy will be adopted later this week. The officials ...
The government will not stipulate the planned lifting of its self-imposed ban on arms exports when in the next week or so it adopts a new basic defense policy, according to politicians who attended the ruling coalition's security panel meeting Tuesday. Instead, the new policy ...
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he will take into account public opinion, along with various other factors, when he decides whether to extend the one-year Self-Defense Forces mission in Iraq, which expires Dec. 14. Newspaper opinion polls have shown that most people oppose continuing ...
Public awareness of human-trafficking is low in Japan because of slow government action and a lack of legislation that directly addresses the problem, according a draft report by the International Labor Organization obtained Wednesday. The report, "Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Japan," was compiled ...
