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August 19, 2025
 

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SDF

The HMS Prince of Wales arrives at the Port of Darwin, Australia, in July during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2025
Operation Highmast reinforces claims that ‘security is indivisible’
European governments recognize that developments in the Indo-Pacific have a profound impact on their national interests.
A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft flies over the island of Okinawa in March 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2025
Precautionary Osprey landings signal safety, not alarm
Two precautionary V-22 Osprey landings in northern Honshu demonstrated the aircraft’s safety and its role in enhancing Japan’s rapid-deployment and island-defense capabilities.
An Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft operated by the Ground Self-Defense Force.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 13, 2025
GSDF completes relocation of Ospreys from Chiba Prefecture to Camp Saga
The Ospreys will be operated to defend remote islands, such as the Nansei island chain in southwestern Japan, with a Taiwan contingency in mind.
Kimi Ozawa, who lost her husband in the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet, prays in front of his memorial marker on Tuesday in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture.
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Aug 12, 2025
Controversial theories continue to swirl around 1985 JAL jet crash
Some bereaved family members and critics who subscribe to the idea of possible SDF involvement say the initial probe left too many loose ends untied.
HMS Prince of Wales arrives into the Port of Darwin, Australia, in July during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2025
Britain’s Prince of Wales aircraft carrier makes Japan debut
This is the second time since the late 1990s that a British aircraft carrier has docked in Japan — after the HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021.
A model of the upgraded Mogami-class frigate is displayed at the Defense Security Equipment International Japan exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on May 21.
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2025
The Japan-Australia frigate deal is more than a weapons pact
The scale of the agreement is sweeping. Japan has never before won a bid this size.
An F-35B stealth fighter jet deployed to the Air Self-Defense Force's Nyutabaru base in Shintomi, Miyazaki Prefecture, on Thursday
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025
In a first, Japan deploys F-35B stealth fighters to ASDF base
The deployment is expected to bolster the defense of Japan's southwestern remote islands amid China's growing maritime assertiveness.
An Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighter crashed into the ocean off Ibaraki Prefecture during a training exercise on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2025
ASDF fighter crashes off Ibaraki Prefecture
The sole pilot on board ejected from the aircraft and was taken to a hospital after being rescued by an ASDF helicopter. The pilot is not injured.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate. Australia's selection of an upgraded version of the Mogami-class warship for its next frigate class could prove to be a watershed moment for Japan’s defense industry.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Aug 6, 2025
Australia's warship selection signals Japanese defense industry's arrival
Japan's successful bid will serve as a confidence booster and could set a precedent for other countries to consider Japanese capabilities for their own militaries.
This undated handout photo released by the Australian Defence Force on Tuesday shows the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force JS Mogami frigate sailing at an undisclosed location.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2025
The Japan-Australia frigate sale is a big deal. Here’s why.
For the Japanese government, this will make for the largest defense export to date.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate Niyodo sails at an undisclosed location in this image released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025
Australia announces new warships will come from Japan
Canberra will purchase 11 Mogami-class frigates in what will be Tokyo’s biggest-ever defense contract — a breakthrough for Japan's defense industry.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force takes part in a multinational tabletop space defense exercise in Townsville, Australia, in July.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025
Japan joins multinational space defense drill
Participants worked on procedures for dealing with and detecting satellite jamming signals and on how to avoid collisions with space debris.
Troops from the Ground Self-Defense Force launch a Type 12 surface-to-ship missile at Beecroft Weapons Range in Australia's New South Wales state during Exercise Talisman Sabre on July 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2025
'Firsts’ abound in latest Talisman Sabre joint military drills
The multinational military drills saw over 80 "firsts" in which participants either tested new systems or performed certain combined activities for the first time.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (fourth from left) attends an annual Self-Defense Forces review ceremony in November last year.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
Self-Defense Forces to discontinue annual review ceremony
The Defense Ministry said that it has become difficult to continue the event, which will not be held unless the security environment changes dramatically in the future.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's chief of staff, Adm. Akira Saito, speaks at a news conference at the Defense Ministry on Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
Over 90 MSDF members punished over scandal involving shipbuilders
The MSDF's chief of staff will lose 10% of his salary for a month over the scandal, in which members improperly received goods from four shipbuilders.
U.S., Japanese and Australian staff work in the JJOC Cooperation Team office at the U.S. Army’s Hardy Barracks in central Tokyo in this image posted to the Australian Embassy's X account on July 25.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 31, 2025
Coordination office marks first step in U.S. Forces Japan’s shift to ‘warfighting’ command
The launch of the new joint command team is the fruit of a multiyear effort to reshape and streamline U.S.-Japan operations.
Ground Self-Defense Force troops fire a Type-12 anti-ship missile as part of the RIMPAC 24 sinking exercise around the Hawaiian Islands in July last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2025
Japan eyes locations for deploying longer-range standoff missiles
The defense minister said that the location for the weapons, due to be deployed by next March, has yet to be decided — though reports called Kumamoto Prefecture a top candidate.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani speaks to reporters during a visit to the Air Self-Defense Force's Space Situation Awareness radar in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2025
‘Killer satellites’ beware: Japan unveils first space defense guidelines
The guidelines outline plans to protect Japanese satellites, while promoting cooperation between the public and private sectors on cutting-edge tech.
The U.S. military base at Kadena in Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2025
South Korean military plane apparently entered Japan ADIZ without notice
Seoul said that a transport aircraft bound for Guam urgently landed at the U.S. Air Force's Kadena base in Okinawa Prefecture on July 13 as it ran out of fuel.
The number of scrambles by Japanese fighter jets against Chinese aircraft rose by 17 in the April-June period from a year before to 122, according to the Defense Ministry.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2025
Japanese fighter jets scramble 157 times in April-June period
The scrambles were mostly in response to Chinese and Russian aircraft.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
Two Japanese nationals shot dead in Manila
Commuters cross the street through traffic in Manila.
Osaka fire kills two firefighters and leaves four injured
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire in the Dotonbori district in the city of Osaka on Monday.
Trump’s peace-deal demands leave Ukraine's Zelenskyy with only bad options
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint news conference with the European Commission president in Brussels on Sunday.
Japan watches nervously as Trump ramps up pressure on Zelenskyy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in an online meeting focused on Ukraine, with leaders from the "coalition of the willing," a group of nations that have pledged support for Kyiv against Russian aggression, late Sunday.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
Top MLB prospect Rintaro Sasaki is committed to doing it 'the hard way'
Rintaro Sasaki hits a home run during a game against Duke at Stanford's Sunken Diamond on March 16.
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.
A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling
In a region more associated with art, Keirin Hotel 10 takes a decidedly more athletic approach to attracting tourists.

Podcast

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

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

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