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.
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
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?
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
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
[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
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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Biggest Threat to South Korea According to Korean Teenagers: Japan
A survey of Korean middle and high school students finds 44.5% consider Japan the biggest threat to South Korea. Are the results the effect of politicized education?
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UAVs and Beyond: The Significance of This Year’s Miyakojima Run
The recent sighting of a shipborne Chinese UAV only partly explains the importance of this year's training exercise: it was a display of China's growing naval capabilities and technological development.
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SDF Member Lied About Absence, To Be Fired
Mainichi: A male Technical Sgt of the Air Basic Training Wing at ASDF Houfu Minami Air Base will be suspended for lying about the number of training days he attended and altering receipts to hide his absence from work.
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JMSDF Training Vessel Visits San Francisco
JS Kashima (TV-3508) visited San Francisco in late June as part of its annual cadet cruise.
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![SDF Restoration Work in Otsuchi, Iwate [Youtube Friday] SDF Restoration Work in Otsuchi, Iwate [Youtube Friday]](http://i0.wp.com/jsw.newpacificinstitute.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2011/06/youtubefridays.jpg?resize=290%2C290)
SDF Restoration Work in Otsuchi, Iwate [Youtube Friday]
Over three months have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, this week's video looks at the work of SDF members from Kyoto in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture.
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