BattlelandJapan
TOKYO – After weeks of muddled statements, verbal gaffes and bungled photo ops, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made one thing unintentionally clear: He thinks Japan did little wrong in its years of war and colonial expansion, …
BattlelandJapan
TOKYO – Warships from Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force have been making stops at the American naval base at Pearl Harbor for more than two decades. But it’s going to seem strange, indeed, when Japanese ground troops …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – Even as Japan and South Korea engage in another round of trash-talk over historical issues, they are quietly – very, very quietly – continuing to cooperate on the high seas.
Japanese and South Korean warships …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – An unprecedented force of ships, troops and aircraft that Japan will send to southern California for amphibious warfare exercises next month represents only the first step in what leaders hope will be a transformation …
BattlelandJapan
NAGAOKA, Japan – Seven decades after the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in an aerial ambush in the South Pacific, Japan is still struggling with how to remember the charismatic naval commander who opposed war with the United …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – With North Korea still issuing threats and invective, it’s worth turning attention to the U.S. air base in Misawa, Japan. That’s where a memorial service was held Tuesday marking the 44th anniversary of the downing …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – With both Japan and the United States squarely in the cross hairs of the latest North Korea missile crisis, a new report concludes that the U.S.-Japan defense alliance is in pretty good shape – thank goodness for that …
BattlelandJapan
TOKYO – The next time Chinese sailors lock radar onto a Japanese warship, they may discover they’re aiming at a woman.
The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) this week appointed female officers to command two …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – The U.S. pivot toward Asia – and the potential for confrontation with China – became a little more real this week with the arrival of a new class of warship designed to fight in coastal waters.
The USS Freedom …
BattlelandMarines
TOKYO – Marines from I Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, slog through wind and snow during a joint training exercise with Japanese troops at the Hokkaido-Dai Maneuver Area in northern Japan last week. The exercise took …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – What with historical and territorial disputes with its neighbors and a rightward tilt in government, this might not seem the best time for a big-budget Hollywood production to come along and examine whether Japan’s …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
TOKYO – Huge cuts in American defense spending will go into effect on Friday, but don’t expect major changes in the readiness or “re-balancing” of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region. That’s thanks in large part to …
