A report on mutual cooperation planning under updated 1997 Japan-U.S. defense guidelines will be submitted to a bilateral defense meeting in New York next month, according to Lt. Gen. Paul Hester, commander of the United States Forces Japan.
"We will present them with the first installment of our plan and give them a report," Hester said during a recent interview with The Japan Times.
Hester spoke of steady progress in what he called a "brand new step" for Japan -- building mechanisms to provide logistic support to U.S. forces in emergencies in areas surrounding Japan as stipulated in the updated defense cooperation guidelines.