Tag - asdf

 
Menu
Search
 
July 09, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

ASDF

Blue Impulse, the Air Self-Defense Force's aerobatic team, performs ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, in September 2023.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2025
ASDF's Blue Impulse to perform for Osaka Expo on July 12 and 13
The aerobatic team will also fly over top tourism sites in the city and the 1970 Expo site in nearby Suita.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya speaks to reporters at the Foreign Ministry on Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
Japanese nationals flee Iran and Israel amid conflict
According to the Foreign Ministry, some 1,000 Japanese citizens are still in Israel and about 220 are in Iran.
South Korea's F-15K fighters were involved in a joint aerial exercise with Japanese and U.S. fighters off South Korea's Jeju island Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025
Japan, U.S. and South Korea conduct joint aerial drill
It was the first three-way joint training since the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung was inaugurated on June 4.
Self-Defense Force personnel transport debris believed to be part of the wreckage of the Air Self-Defense Force's T-4 training aircraft that crashed near a lake in Aichi Prefecture on May 15.
JAPAN
May 23, 2025
Two ASDF crew members confirmed dead in training plane crash in Aichi
The Air Self-Defense Force's T-4 training aircraft crashed near a lake in Aichi Prefecture immediately after taking off from the Komaki Air Base last week.
Self-Defense Forces personnel collect apparent parts of an Air Self-Defense Force T-4 training jet from a reservoir in Inuyama, Aichi Prefeture, on Thursday. The jet crashed shortly after takeoff a day earlier.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025
Two crew feared dead after ASDF training jet crashes in Aichi
Pieces of the T-4 training aircraft and some of the crew's equipment have been recovered from the crash site — a large reservoir in Inuyama.
Scrambles against Chinese military aircraft account for 464, or 65.9%, down by 15, according to the Defense Ministry.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2025
Japan defense force scrambled fighter jets 704 times in fiscal 2024
Scrambles against Chinese military aircraft accounted for 65.9% of the total, and the number of Chinese drones detected by the ministry more than tripled to 30.
Lt. Col. Suguru Ejiri, the head of Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatics team, at the ASDF base in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, in March. Ejiri has revealed little about the upcoming Osaka Expo performance apart from it being based on the event's theme.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2025
ASDF's Blue Impulse set for Osaka Expo performance
The aerobatics team flew for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka Prefecture as well, during which the team drew "EXPO 70" in the sky.
An F-35B stealth fighter jet loaded in the hangar of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kaga destroyer
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 17, 2025
SDF's biggest ships are being converted into de facto aircraft carriers
The Izumo and Kaga, each about 248 meters in length and 38 meters in width, are the largest vessels in the MSDF.
Makeshift housing units are built on Tanegashima island, Kagoshima Prefesture, for workers involved in construction of an Air Self-Defense Force base on nearby Mageshima island.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2025
ASDF base construction on Mageshima to be delayed by three years
The completion is expected for the end of March 2030 due to bad weather and a labor shortage.
The air-to-surface standoff missiles have a range of about 900 kilometers, enabling strikes from beyond enemy firing ranges.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2025
U.S. approves sale of air-to-surface missiles to Japan
The move comes in response to the Japanese government's request to purchase up to 16 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles with Extended Range.
An Air Self-Defense Force airman sets up a drone during a bilateral live fire exercise at Draughon Range, near Misawa Air Base, in Aomori Prefecture in July 2023.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 5, 2025
Taking a page from Ukraine war, SDF carves out growing role for drones
Whether for use in the air, on land or at sea, the SDF is gradually integrating these increasingly capable and often autonomous systems into their units.
A U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber (front) flies in formation with South Korean, Japanese and U.S. fighter jets during a joint air drill in South Korean airspace south of Jeju Island on Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2024
U.S. bomber joins air drill with South Korea and Japan
The exercise took place three days after Pyongyang launched one of its most powerful and advanced solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles.
A building in Tokyo housing the Tokyo District Court
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 30, 2024
Ex-ASDF colonel pleads not guilty to confidentiality breach
According to his indictment, So Kanno is alleged to have leaked information about the systems of E-2D early warning planes.
A Russian Tu-142 aircraft that circled Japan on Thursday
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2024
Japan scrambled jets after Russian military aircraft circled country
Russia's planes did not enter Japanese airspace but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia.
A German Air Force Eurofighter jet takes off from Chitose Airbase in Hokkaido during Germany and Japan's first-ever bilateral fighter exercise, which ran from Monday to Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2024
Japan and Germany elevate ties with first joint fighter exercise
Named Nippon Skies, the aerial maneuvers took place in the airspace around the Air Self-Defense Force’s Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido.
Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense Shingo Miyake speaks at a news conference in Kitadaito, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2024
Okinawa island accepts ASDF radar deployment
An ASDF mobile radar will monitor the Chinese military's growing activities in the Pacific.
Two Air Self-Defense Force F-15s (right) escort two German Air Force Eurofighter jets and an A330MRTT aerial tanker on their arrival in Japan Friday. The ASDF is conducting training exercises with the German, French and Spanish air forces this weekend.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024
German, French and Spanish fighter aircraft arrive in Japan for joint drills
The stopover in Japan is part of a two-month, trinational Pacific Skies deployment that will also take the three countries’ air forces to Australia, India and Hawaii.
An Air Self-Defense Force base in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2024
Image of likely ASDF missile model posted online
The ASDF is currently investigating whether any of its personnel were involved, officials said.
German and Japanese fighter jets take part in an exercise over Japan in September 2022.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2024
Japan to hold fighter jet drills with Germany, France, Spain in July
A contingent of more than 30 military aircraft from Germany, France and Spain will arrive in Japan next month to conduct a series of training exercises with the ASDF.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 22, 2024
ASDF lieutenant general suspended over workplace bullying
It is the first punitive action against an ASDF lieutenant general for harassment.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Trump announces new tariff rate on Japan — and extension of deadline to Aug. 1
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a trade letter sent by the White House to Japan during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
China’s housing crisis is worse than it seems
Residential buildings under construction in Shanghai in July 2022. The Chinese government risks long-term decline by repeating Japan’s policy mistakes in handling its real estate and demographic crises.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Japan stands its ground after Trump letter delivers 25% U.S. tariff shock
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at Morristown Airport, New Jersey, on Sunday. Trump on Monday sent letters to 12 countries notifying them of new "reciprocal" tariff rates effective Aug. 1.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Scams involving police impersonation surge
A video by the National Police Agency warns about fake scams.
Lawson to let visitors use larger parking lots as paid car campsites
A Lawson convenience store in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture. A new service from the company comes amid the rise in inbound tourists, making hotels and inns harder to book and more expensive.
The future is bright inside the visionary mind of architect Sou Fujimoto
The exhibition of Fujimoto’s architecture surveys his career to date, as well as looks ahead as shown in his proposal of a future floating city designed in collaboration with data scientist Hiroaki Miyata.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER