Posted on 02/20/2011 10:07:20 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Japanese troops from the Western Area Infantry Regiment are assaulting the green hills of Camp Pendleton in operation Iron Fist.
For a month, about 200 Japanese troops are training with Marines -- leading to a final exam where together they will launch a mock amphibious assault against a common enemy. ....
Japans latest defense policy calls for a new concept, called dynamic proactive defense, said Akihisa Nagashima, lower house member of the Democratic Party of Japan and former parliamentary vice minister of defense.
Japanese troops, he said, will need to be mobile, flexible and ready to respond quickly -- the kinds of skills that Marines are known for. More training exercises with Marines are likely, Nagashima said.
Although Japans Cold War strategy focused on the Hokkaido region of northern Japan, the new policy includes a greater focus on the South China Sea and the western Pacific, including sending troops to Japans southernmost island of Yonaguni to reclaim control of any island should the need arise, Nagashima said.
Japans post-World War II reluctance to develop a military is waning in light of increased tension with North Korea and China, said Ellis Krauss, professor and Japan expert at the graduate school of international relations and Pacific studies at UC San Diego.
The amphibious assault training, Krauss said, is most likely preparing Japan to rush to the defense of its many relatively unprotected southern islands in case the Chinese or North Koreans try to take them back.
For Iron Fist, the Japanese brought their own Toyota-built trucks and Humvees. The Marines are supplying tanks and rotary-wing aircraft. ....
The final exam, set for early March, will be a weeklong, ship-based exercise involving troops from both countries coming ashore at the beaches where Marines trained for the World War II landings.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
Gotta love how capitalism and enlightened self-interests turns enemies into friends. God bless ‘em.
Wow !
Repeal the Japanese military ban.
A lot of things have changed since the Tenaru river, haven't they?
Yeah a month at Camp Pendleton and they will understand why they got their asses kicked in WWII
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