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Shintaro Ishihara: Militarize!

by James Simpson on Jun 30, 2011 • 5 Comments

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara is famous for making inflammatory comments. In his latest, he called for Japan to militarize and begin conscription.

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SDF Members Went AWOL in Saga Pref.

by James Simpson on Jun 30, 2011 • 8 Comments

Two soldiers from a helicopter base in Saga Prefecture went AWOL in recent months: one went fishing on March 12th, the other fled to Fukuoka. Does it reveal a lack of discipline at the base?

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Asian Security Blog: Japan’s Defense Future

by Kyle Mizokami on Jun 30, 2011 • No Comments

JSW pal Robert Kelly at Asian Security Blog recently asked me to do a guest post on Japan's defense future. It turned into a two-parter.

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On the Civilian Side of the Restoration Efforts: Chaos?

by James Simpson on Jun 30, 2011 • No Comments

News Post Seven talks with police, fire and local government representatives to paint a bleak picture of the civilian side of the restoration work over 100 days on from the Tohoku Earthquake.

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Swimming, Surviving, Breeding

by James Simpson on Jun 30, 2011 • No Comments

11 goldfish were rescued from an abandoned school in Fukushima. They were reunited with the children from the school who will continue to look after them at a GSDF base.

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Looking Closer at Japanese Satellite Networks During Disaster Response

by Peter J Brown on Jun 29, 2011 • No Comments

[Courtesy of Peter J. Brown, originally published at Japanese in Space.] Earlier this week, I wrote about a report issued by the Government of Japan’s Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters (NERHQ). I mentioned that it raised questions about the overall performance, reliability and robustness of Japan’s satellite networks including the “Local Authorities Satellite Communications Network” or LASCOM. Kazuto Suzuki, Professor...

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Wikileaks: The Self Defense Forces and a Korean Contingency

by Kyle Mizokami on Jun 29, 2011 • No Comments

Buried in a United States State Department cable dated July 31st, 2008 is a description of how Japan would respond to a contingency on the Korean peninsula. SUBJECT: DASD MAHNKEN MEETINGS IN JAPAN ON BILATERAL PLANNING JSDF Planning for a Korean Contingency ————————————– ¶9. (S) MOD and JSO representatives gave a presentation on JSDF activities...

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