defense ministry
April 24, 2013
Japan and China are moving closer toward making a longstanding plan for an emergency maritime hotline a reality to prevent an accidental confrontation around the disputed...
April 09, 2013
The Defense Ministry has decided to permanently base surface-to-air Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles in Okinawa to intercept any ballistic missiles headed toward...
March 29, 2013
The Defense Ministry has ignored repeated instructions by the Board of Audit to prevent possible kickbacks on defense equipment deals that are wasting hundreds of millions of...
March 07, 2013
By the afternoon of March 15, 2011, the Defense Ministry had prepared a rough plan to cool the overheating reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by using...
February 11, 2013
Editor's note: This is the seventh part of a series that has run in the past under the overall title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the different responses...
January 28, 2013
The government plans to increase spending on defense in fiscal 2013 for the first time in 11 years, reflecting a priority on security set by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
January 09, 2013
The Defense Ministry has asked for additional hardware worth 180.5 billion yen ($2 billion) in a forthcoming supplementary budget intended to unleash a new economic stimulus...
January 05, 2013
With an eye on China's military buildup and maritime expansion strategy, the Defense Ministry plans to increase its budget appropriation request for fiscal 2013 by more than...
December 31, 2012
The Defense Ministry has started studies on equipping the Self-Defense Forces with the V-22 Osprey, the U.S. military transport aircraft whose safety record has sparked huge...
December 31, 2012
Revelations that Mitsubishi Electric Corp. overcharged the government for many years on defense and space contracts have brought to the fore the shocking depth of problems in...
December 20, 2012
A new survey of Chinese security policy has reported increased cooperation between surveillance units of the People's Liberation Army and civilian government agencies with the...
October 31, 2012
Feeling betrayed by Tokyo, local officials in Okinawa Prefecture are scrutinizing flights of the U.S. military’s Osprey transport aircraft--and have reported numerous safety...
October 19, 2012
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighters against Chinese military aircraft approaching Japanese air space 54 times from July to September, more than three times as...
October 15, 2012
Late night and early morning takeoffs and landings of newly deployed Osprey aircraft at the U.S. Futenma airfield in Okinawa Prefecture are set to rise sharply while pilots...
September 08, 2012
Japan's defense budget will post the biggest drop in more than half a century next year but Tokyo will make new investments in equipment to help defend remote islands, the...
August 27, 2012
Far-flung Tonga is among a medley of developing nations that Japan's Defense Ministry is rushing to assist under a program begun without fanfare, but which has the potential to ...
February 04, 2012
Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka is coming under heavy attack from all sides, with his critics increasingly accusing the bumbling minister of being stuck at the mercy of...
January 28, 2012
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has been banned from bidding on contracts awarded by three government agencies following allegations of overbilling.
January 10, 2012
The government has chosen F-35 stealth jets jointly developed by nine countries, including the United States and Britain, as the mainstay fighter for the Air Self-Defense Force.
December 21, 2011
Japan's selection of the U.S.-made Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jet was hardly a surprise in light of the importance placed on the Japan-U.S. security alliance by Prime ...