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TOKYO – Maybe it’s sympathy from last year’s triple disasters or maybe it’s just China being China. But for what it’s worth, Americans increasingly view Japan as its most important ally in Asia. A poll released Tuesday finds that 50% of the U.S. public thinks Japan is America’s most important partner in this part of [...]
TOKYO – A shooting war with China may not be inevitable, but a dangerous arms escalation seems a dead certainty. That’s the take from a rare public discussion here this week among naval experts from Japan, the U.S. and China. “Eighty percent of the population wants us to use the military,” says Yang Yi, former director [...]
The prospect of U.S. and Japanese troops fighting side by side in the next land war in Asia — and heaven forbid the need for either — comes a step closer with a little-noted provision in U.S. realignment plans announced last week. The agreement to shift 9,000 Marines from Okinawa to other locations in the Pacific [...]
TOKYO – For the first time in almost three decades, Americans are training for combat in New Zealand – and even the Kiwis are happy about it. U.S. Marines and soldiers began a joint-training exercise Thursday with the New Zealand Army in the rugged mountains of the North Island. The 10-day exercise is the first [...]
TOKYO – Whether it’s a genuine attempt to steer Japan’s foreign policy or a clever ploy to annoy political leaders in both Japan and China, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s plan to buy three disputed islands in the East China Sea is a dangerous game that has the potential to drag both Japan and the U.S. [...]
TOKYO – You could almost hear the collective “Aw, damn,” from Japan’s Ministry of Defense Friday as a North Korean missile broke up soon after takeoff and plopped into the sea. Japan spends about $5 billion a year on missile defense and had mobilized forces throughout the country to shoot the missile down if it strayed [...]
TOKYO – It’s not clear if anyone appreciates the irony, but Japan wants to help pay for a new U.S. military base on Tinian atoll, a former Imperial Army stronghold from which the atomic bombings of Japan were launched in August 1945. The base would become a joint training facility for U.S. Marines and Japan [...]
TOKYO – It’s been a tough year for Japan, what with the earthquake and tsunami, North Korean nukes and China’s increasingly aggressive military. But there’s a silver lining for at least one part of Japanese society – the military. A recent opinion poll shows support for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces is at the highest level since the [...]
TOKYO – On a clear night in March 1945, more than 300 U.S. B-29 bombers launched one of the most devastating air raids in history. By dawn, more than 100,000 people were dead, a million were homeless, and 40 square kilometers of Tokyo were burned to the ground. More people were killed in the Tokyo firebombing [...]
TOKYO – Japan knows just what to do if North Korea goes ahead with a thinly disguised test of a new ballistic missile next month: shoot the @#$! thing down. Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told Diet members Monday that “We will take the (necessary) procedures in the event of a contingency that threatens our [...]
