The U.S. Marine Corps have held a drill in Japan with orders given in Japanese for the first time, according to the troops, in a move aimed at enhancing their partnership with the Self-Defense Forces.
Although it remains unclear whether the Marines will interact in Japanese during actual operations, use of the language in Marine training suggests Washington is attempting to engage Japan's Ground-Self Defense Force in new operations involving remote islands, according to an SDF source.
In a Marine exercise on April 29 at an airfield on Ie Island in Okinawa Prefecture, a Marine is confirmed to have directed other members in Japanese to move a rocket and fire it while pointing at a spot on the map.