Land of the Rising Ally

The Japanese government’s move to loosen restrictions on its military has led to a push for more training opportunities with American forces, the Army’s top leader in the Pacific said on Tuesday. The Japanese parliament in September passed a bill to change 10 laws to let the country’s military cooperate more closely with allies. Gen. Vincent Brooks, the commander of US Army Pacific, told reporters in Washington, D.C., that Japan is “in the midst of a transformation” and that there has been “greater interest in joint operations.” The US and Japan has a history of joint training, and the country has been pushing for more bilateral and multilateral partnerships. In August, a C-130 assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan, airdropped Japanese Ground Self-Defense soldiers onto US soil, marking a first for a US aircraft. The airfield seizure exercise was part of Red Flag-Alaska at JB Elmendorf-Richardson.