Japan parliament dissolved, snap October 22 election expected

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday called a snap election, as fresh opinion polls showed a fledgling conservative party led by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike was gaining momentum ahead of the expected Oct. 22 vote. Abe, a conservative who returned to power in 2012, is hoping a boost in his voter support in […]

Japan Deploys Anti-Missile Interceptor Battery Along Flight Path of North Korean Missiles

Japan announced it has deployed Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air interceptors (PAC-3) in response to North Korea’s recent missiles launches. The battery was moved to a Ground Self-Defense Force camp in the city from an Air Self-Defense Force base about 70 km away, apparently because the interceptors only cover a range of roughly several dozen kilometers. The Patriot […]

Japan Deploys Anti-Missile Interceptor Battery Along Flight Path of North Korean Missiles

Japan announced it has deployed Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air interceptors (PAC-3) in response to North Korea’s recent missiles launches. The battery was moved to a Ground Self-Defense Force camp in the city from an Air Self-Defense Force base about 70 km away, apparently because the interceptors only cover a range of roughly several dozen kilometers. The […]

Watch: Unique Look at Air Rescue Training with the 31st Rescue Squadron

The unsung heroes you never really hear about risk their lives daily just in training. A pilots best friend. Realistic training enables the military to improve its readiness and war fighting capabilities. A1C Jay Brackins joins the 31st Rescue Squadron at Kadena for combined operations with the 320th Special Tactics Squadron and 17th Special Operations […]

Russian and Japanese leaders ‘decisively condemn’ North Korean tests

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the two leaders “decisively condemned” North Korean weapons tests. “We decisively condemned North Korea’s launch of a medium-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan’s territory on August 28, as well as the new nuclear tests conducted on September 3,” […]

Airspace conflict before Open-Skies, Korean Airlines Flight 007

For many people born after about 1975, the 80’s was a time of adventure and rebirth from the gas shortages and economic downturn of the decade before. The first space shuttle, Columbia made its maiden flight in 1981; movie goers could take in everything from Terms of Endearment to Friday the 13th; and the geek […]

Abe, Moon to seek Chinese, Russian support for North Korea sanctions: Kyodo

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will ask China and Russia for their support for new sanctions against North Korea, Kyodo News said on Thursday, citing a Japanese official. Abe and Moon, in talks on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, agreed to step up pressure […]

Merkel, Abe agree sanctions against North Korea should be stepped up

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister spoke by telephone on Tuesday and agreed that sanctions against Pyongyang should be stepped up in response to North Korea’s nuclear test, a spokesman for the German government said. “She agreed with Prime Minister Abe that North Korea’s latest nuclear test threatened the security of the entire […]

North Korea claims to have detonated Hydrogen bomb, risk of war rises

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) tested a nuclear weapon on Sunday, September 3rd, which was its sixth test, according to the New York Times and the first time the country’s claim to have tested a Hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb might actually be true.  While some analysts doubt the truth of this last […]