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MSDF

JAPAN
Dec 27, 2019
Japan’s Cabinet adopts plan to send SDF to Mideast amid Iran tensions
The “investigation and research” mission will send the destroyer Takanami into an area where tensions over Iran's nuclear program are high and an attack could drag Japan into war.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 22, 2019
SDF tests public support with next mission in Middle East
The Cabinet is expected to approve a Self-Defense Forces mission to the Middle East that will comprise a destroyer, patrol planes and 250 personnel as part of an intelligence-gathering operation.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 29, 2019
With hazy plan for SDF dispatch to Mideast, is Japan pursuing contradictory goals?
It was an unusual meeting starting at around 7:30 a.m. at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Oct. 23, hastily organized so government officials could get lawmakers up to speed.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2019
Japan's Foreign Ministry to provide Korean-language explanation of Rising Sun flag on website
Japan's Foreign Ministry plans to provide an explanation in Korean on use of the kyokujitsuki Rising Sun flag on its website, in addition to the details currently provided in Japanese and English.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2019
Japan's MSDF and Chinese Navy hold first joint military drills in eight years
The Maritime Self-Defense Force has conducted "goodwill exercises" with the Chinese Navy for the first time in eight years, the MSDF has said in a statement.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2019
Japan won't join U.S.-led maritime coalition but may send MSDF to gulf separately, report claims
Japan will not join a U.S.-led security mission to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, but will consider deploying its naval force independently, the Yomiuri newspaper reported Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2019
U.S. F-35Bs may conduct takeoff and landing drills on Japan's renovated Izumo carriers
The U.S. military's F-35B fighter jets could use Izumo-class ships for training exercises after the Japanese vessels are renovated to be able to host such aircraft, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2019
Trump bump: Building on U.S. president's visit
Tokyo should leverage the momentum of the Trump visit to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance not just symbolically, but in a concrete and forward-leaning manner.
JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2019
In symbolic first, Abe and Trump jointly address military personnel aboard Japan's Kaga carrier
Peppered with pomp and decorum, Trump's four-day visit to Japan ended with a gesture highlighting the long-standing military ties between the two countries.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2019
Chinese Navy puts military might on display with fleet review attended by Japan and others
Seven decades after its founding, the Chinese Navy put on a show Tuesday of the numerous strides it has made to become a "world-class" force to be reckoned — a shift that has unnerved some regional countries and the United States.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 13, 2019
Journalists get tour of Japan's Izumo amid debate over equipping ship with aircraft carrier capabilities
Journalists on Wednesday were given a guided tour of the Izumo — Japan's largest flat-topped helicopter carrier — for the first time since the Defense Ministry revealed a controversial plan late last year to convert it so that it could handle fixed-wing aircraft — which critics and some opposition...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 21, 2019
Tokyo terminates working level talks with Seoul after revealing new evidence on radar lock-on dispute
The Defense Ministry announced Monday it will terminate talks with its South Korean counterpart over the radar lock-on dispute, while revealing what it claims are sounds, converted from radio waves, of the fire-control radar system of a South Korean destroyer.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2018
Japan discloses footage of radar lock-on by South Korean warship
Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya says the footage proves that a South Korean military destroyer locked fire-control radar on an MSDF aircraft on Dec. 20.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 21, 2018
Japan lodges protest after South Korean warship locks targeting radar on MSDF plane
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo “strongly protests” to Seoul after a South Korean destroyer allegedly locked its targeting radar on a Japanese surveillance plane.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2018
Japanese helicopter carrier wages daily war on dirt and grime
The Kaga helicopter carrier is not the biggest, fastest or most powerful warship to sail the seas, but its 500 crew wage a daily war on dirt and grime to keep it the cleanest.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Oct 10, 2018
Japan's female sailors serve on front line of gender equality
Women serving on Japan's biggest warship, the Kaga, are a tight-knit group on the front line of a push to transform the Japanese navy into a mixed-gender fighting force, where men outnumber them more than 10 to one.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2018
Japanese helicopter carrier Kaga conducts drills with British warship, headed for contested South China Sea
Japan's biggest warship, the Kaga helicopter carrier, joined naval drills with Britain's HMS Argyll in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday as the frigate headed toward the contested South China Sea and East Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2018
Defense Ministry to equip Aegis ship with SM-6 missile interceptor system
The Defense Ministry plans to equip the Maritime Self-Defense Force's new Aegis-equipped destroyer Maya with the Standard Missile-6, or SM-6, anti-air missile system to shoot down cruise missiles, according to informed sources.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 30, 2018
Japan launches next-generation destroyer carrying latest version of the Aegis anti-missile system
A launching ceremony for an 8,200-ton, 169.9-meter warship for the Maritime Self-Defense Force was held Monday at a plant in Yokohama's Isogo Ward as Tokyo keeps steadily bolstering its defense capability against North Korean and Chinese missiles in close cooperation with U.S. military forces.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2018
Japan and U.S. to conduct first joint anti-ship drills
Over 600 Japanese troops, including the MSDF's version of the U.S. Marines, will join the RIMPAC naval exercises to coordinate a defense of Japan's Nansei islands.

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