
Japan’s Strategic Geography, 1983
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MHI Delivers 13 Type-10 Tanks in FY2011
Friend of JSW, Susumu of Surveillance to Go Nowhere tipped us off to a small news release from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced that they have completed the provision of 13 Type-10 tanks to the Ground Self-Defense Force in FY2011, the first year of a four-year contract to supply of these 58 state-of-the-art tanks. This is on schedule and is pretty much a non-event, except that they are at least getting these tanks through the door.
It is also worth bearing in mind the troubles faced by the first commissioned production-line Type-10 earlier this year – it is unclear just how many of these Type-10 have received their commissioning yet and whether they have faced any further setbacks like the ones reported in January. What is clear is that the replacement for the Type-74 tanks, which have recently seen renewed service in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi crisis, appears to be on track.
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Post-Disaster Opinion: China and the SDF
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Problems piling up for the Japanese F-35 dream
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MSDF Destroyers Visit Vietnam
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A Tohoku Earthquake Retrospective…
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NBR on the Anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake
Two very interesting interviews out of National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) looking at Japan one year on from the Tohoku Earthquake.
The first interview entitled ‘Policy Change in a Post-Crisis Japan’ has Richard J Samuels looking at national security through his own research, best seen in his 2007 book Securing Japan:
But there is debate about the lessons of their success for policy going forward. Those who say “put it in gear” have written a “wake-up call” narrative about March 11. They say, “Yes, the efficacy of the SDF and the alliance were demonstrated, but the real threat is not natural disaster. If we start thinking of the SDF merely as a humanitarian-assistance disaster-relief (HA/DR) operation, then we will be taking our eyes off the real threat. The real threats are China and North Korea, and we have to do more to deter them.”
The stay-the-course group offers a “proof of concept” narrative. They say, “What the self-defense forces and the alliance achieved is what we have been telling everyone that they could achieve for decades.” They insist that the effectiveness of the SDF demonstrated that the nation has something it should value and reward with better treatment.
The third group says that the successful deployment of the self-defense forces for rescue and relief after March 11 taught Japan that the SDF is best and most legitimate when it is carrying shovels, not guns. This group argues Japan should return to the true meaning of Article 9, and not be focused on armaments, but on the creation of a global disaster-relief function for the Japanese military.
The second interview, ‘Fukushima One Year Later’, has Daniel Aldrich addressing the nuclear and civil society issues following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis:
While the physical landscape in towns like Rikuzentakata, Ofunato, and Minami Sanriku better resembles normalcy, the recovery process is only just beginning. A number of larger issues, such as the balance between the central government’s fiscal control over the recovery process and the desire of local governments to have more autonomy to pursue creative rebuilding efforts, remain unresolved. Other local-level concerns for Tohoku residents, such as issues of radioactive decontamination, counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, and the long-term economic viability of these coastal communities, which often depend on fishing and canning industries, must be addressed through intergovernmental consultation. Some larger issues, such as the length of time for which evacuated villages will remain empty, and the creation of new no-build zones adjacent to low-lying, vulnerable areas will take considerable political will to tackle.
These are part of a much broader retrospective running through the media both here and abroad, and we will be adding out voice here at JSW this weekend. In the meantime, what other excellent articles or documentaries have you seen addressing the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear issues? Let us know in the comments.
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