Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2016
Jobs help sink Japan's sub bid
In the end the government was not prepared to pay the biggest political cost of all, which is domestic electoral consequences of any decision that laid waste to still more manufacturing jobs in the state of South Australia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 29, 2016
Security laws usher in new era for pacifist Japan
Marking a historic change in Japan's pacifist diplomacy, two divisive security laws take effect that allow Tokyo to engage in collective self-defense based on the reinterpreted Constitution.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2016
Trump wants to leave U.S. alliance partners in the lurch
Donald Trump's advocation of a more isolationist foreign policy for the U.S. is striking a chord with millions of Americans.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2016
Those 'free rider' allies are finally paying up
There are signs that U.S. allies in Asia, Europe and the Middle East are starting to understand that the bill for the Pax Americana has come due.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2016
Security legislation takes effect
Japan's postwar defense posture underwent a major change this week as new security legislation took effect, but how the government plans to implement the laws remains unclear.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2016
Islamic State a growing threat to East Asia, including Japan: defense review
A defense review released Friday said the threat was highlighted by the kidnapping and killing of Japanese nationals.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2016
The Japan-U.S. alliance and robotics diplomacy
Tucked inside the 2017 U.S. defense budget request is about $15 billion to place relatively small research bets on over-the-horizon technologies that can help the U.S. military maintain a leading edge over any competitor over the long term. Close allies like Japan have an interest in seeing this effort succeed.
WORLD
Mar 7, 2016
Russia to cut defense spending by 5%, report says
Russia's defense budget will be cut by 5 percent in 2016, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Tatiana Shevtsova said, according to the RIA news agency.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2016
India, U.S., Japan to hold naval drills close to China's waters
The U.S., India and Japan will hold joint naval exercises later this year in waters north of the Philippines, a move that is likely to irk nearby China as tensions rise over competing territorial claims in the region.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2016
Toshiba reportedly mulling battery plant in Australia as Japan seeks sub deal
The government has enlisted Toshiba Corp. to help it try to win Asia's biggest defense contract, a $36 billion deal to build a dozen submarines for Australia, three sources said.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 23, 2016
Defense minister stresses civilians still have control over Japanese military
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Tuesday downplayed a news report that some senior officers in the Self-Defense Forces are demanding a bigger role than the civilians in drafting the next three-year overall operation plan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 20, 2016
Growing chorus of experts is raising ethical questions about the future of robotics
Crowds filter through a darkened corner of Tokyo's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation on a recent Saturday, seeking to catch a glimpse of what the future may be like.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 1, 2016
U.S. presidential contenders vow status quo in Japan ties
With the Iowa caucus Monday, the primary voting process that will select Democratic and Republican candidates to run in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election has begun. Over the next four months, American, and international, attention will be focused on the primary races, and who emerges as their party's...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 8, 2016
U.K., Japan condemn fourth North Korean nuke test, urge stronger military cooperation
The Japanese and British foreign and defense ministers on Friday issued a joint condemnation of North Korea's nuclear test and pledged to strengthen military cooperation between Japan and the United Kingdom.
EDITORIALS
Jan 2, 2016
Education deserves more attention
The government's conservative agenda is exposed by the rise in defense spending while funding for education remains static.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 23, 2015
Forceful defense posture shift could lay Japan open to attack, LDP's Seiko Noda warns
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's defense policy shift to allow the military to fight abroad for the first time since 1945 could be used by militants as an excuse to attack Japan, a ruling party lawmaker who hopes one day to succeed Abe said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 20, 2015
Gulf War trauma kicked off Japan's retreat from pacifism in '91
As the first Gulf War raged in February 1991, Ground Self-Defense Force Maj. Nozomu Yoshitomi was supposed to be conducting war games with U.S. officers at a military facility in Tokyo. But the Americans appeared distracted, watching the conflict live on CNN. On another TV, local news showed Japanese...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 18, 2015
Japanese island defense plan takes shape in bid to turn tables on China
Japan is fortifying its far-flung island chain in the East China Sea under an evolving strategy that aims to turn the tables on China's navy and keep it from ever dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 17, 2015
Japan, Indonesia hold first two-plus-two talks, agree to work toward transfer of defense weapons
Japan and Indonesia held their first "two-plus-two" meetings of foreign and defense ministers in Tokyo on Thursday, agreeing to work on a pact that could allow to Japan to export some defense weapons and technologies to Indonesia.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 17, 2015
Subs, politics, China ties swirl as Australian leader visits Japan
The top item on the agenda is expected to be reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on closer defense cooperation.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past