The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo Photo: Kakidai/Wikipedia
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Japan warns citizens of possible attack in 6 Southeast Asian nations

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"Religious facilities"? Well, that's kinda broad, especially for those countries. In places like Chiang Mai, it seems there's a temple on every street corner.

One wonders about the usefulness of warnings when they are so frustratingly vague.

21 ( +29 / -8 )

Where did the intelligence come from? The Five Eyes?

8 ( +13 / -5 )

It baffles me as to why Japanese citizens could be targeted for any terror attacks.

I doubt Japanese are the intended targets but you would not want to be around a bombing as an innocent bystander.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

They forgot to warn Japanese Citizens in the USA of a possible attack, anywhere, anytime, any place...

7 ( +12 / -5 )

Maybe a false alarm! Japan has the most inefficient intelligence services in modern countries!

6 ( +10 / -4 )

In the Philippines, the most worry a Japanese national could have is being scammed, pickpocketed and other petty theft towards foreigners

In most areas of the country, yes. But there are a lot of radical Islamist groups in the southern regions of the country around Mindanao - I definitely would want to avoid those areas.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

It would be helpful to give an indication of why and where the threat is coming from even if they can’t give details of the source of the intelligence.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

In Thailand, someone might attack you with a water pistol during Songkran.

3 ( +13 / -10 )

And how is it that the U.S. State Dept hasn't issued any similar warnings or any of the other "quad" nations of which Japan is a part of? Isn't intelligence sharing part of the alliance? Another credibility hit for Japan.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

In the Philippines, the most worry a Japanese national could have is being scammed, pickpocketed and other petty theft towards foreigners. I also question the source of this report, but Japan being Japan, this is nothing extraordinary

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Pretty sure not many Japanese are hanging out in Myanmar at the moment.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Ironic how Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia are excluded.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

A little surprised anyone would worry about a bombing in Singapore. 

I was surprised too, but I looked on the UK government's travel advice pages and it says this about Singapore:

"Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Singapore."

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/singapore/terrorism

All the other countries in the article are also described as places where terrorist attacks are likely or very likely.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Look at the countries named The warning applies to Japanese citizens in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. All of these countries are pretty much Muslim.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

AramaTaihenNoYouDidnt

Ironic how Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia are excluded.

To point out the obvious: Those do not have large muslim population segments, so less water for the jihadis to swim in.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Don't understand where they're getting this from if the other nations don't know either. Seems really vague

Could be that they have information the other nations don't. Or that the other nations don't want to admit it, or that they don't find the information credible. There are all sorts of reasons why the other nations may be claiming not to know, plenty of them still legitimate reasons. There are legitimate reasons for being vague as well.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I like my Japanese "Friends" though... behind their "face" friendship, there is a veil which worries me at times, do they really believe the times of past ?

0 ( +7 / -7 )

Sounds kind of odd. Yeah maybe parts of Indonesia and perhaps the Muslim areas of the Philippines but thats only speculation because both countries are relatively stable.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I'm sure they have a credible source of intel. Aside from collaborating closely with Western countries, Japan also has its own quite capable intelligence gathering abilities.

That being said, for some reason the first thing that popped into my mind when reading this was that article about how the Taliban in Afghanistan was reaching out to Japan to try and establish relations. I hope they aren't the source!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japanese are getting paranoid.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Falls Alarm!???

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Toshihiro

In the Philippines, the most worry a Japanese national could have is being scammed, pickpocketed and other petty theft towards foreigners.

Does your "Philippines" include Mindanao? I would say your Japanese national would have som additional worries there.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan is getting paranoid because Japan have to please America. Every country have their own secret service and they will know if there are threats to their citizens lives.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

All those countries have an active Muslim insurgent element.

If or when a terrorist attack does happen, the same critics will be quick to criticize Japan for lack of hazard management, and heiwa-boke…

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Don't understand where they're getting this from if the other nations don't know either. Seems really vague

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Planet fear strikes again!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@3:36pm is totally irrelevant and entirely ‘off-topic’. This issue concerns the safety of Japanese in six “southeast Asian nations”, clearly understood by those with knowledge of even basic geography. It doesn’t require any alleged prior skills in military ground navigation or pontificated knowledge of nihilistic, evolutionary theories. Even Japanese elementary students know where each of these countries lie.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Over cautious ? Why would only Japan have such an info ?

A few years back, in 2019, I went to Korea just on the day of the 100 anniversary of the independence March, Japan was also advising its citizen to avoid going around places where ceremonies were held, as it tends to gather nationalists.

My wife is Japanese, it wasn’t any issue when walking around. Japanese were not a target. But when it comes to Korea, this kind of warning is more political than anything else

-1 ( +10 / -11 )

A little surprised anyone would worry about a bombing in Singapore. Their police are, um, efficient, yes let's put it that way.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

Singapore? Singapore (and perhaps Switzerland) are about the only countries in the world that are "safer" than Japan.

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

This does not sound like reliable intelligence at all...I mean Singapore.???

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Someone probably pushed the report button by accident.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I sincerely doubt there would be any suicide bombings in Singapore anyway.

Japanese are not strangers to suicides.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Singapore ? I have a hard time believing it, it seems like a geographical targeting, could the be coming from space ? Or just Japan, for some reason, trying to reduce the tourism to this region ?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Interesting list of specific countries and what they may have in common, aside from all being in SE Asia? Could it have something to do with recent, available sources of intel? From other recent stories:

*- “We have offered necessary assistance such as issuing a visas, arranging airline tickets," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the J government will continue to provide support for other evacuees. The JSDF were dispatched to the region in late Aug to evacuate around 500 people wishing to leave Afghanistan.By the end of the evacuation mission on Aug 31, the SDF had only evacuated one Japanese as well as 14 Afghans.”*

From this story:

*- “The warning applies to J citizens in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar.The advisory was met with puzzlement in several of those nations, which said they had no knowledge of such a threat, or details from Japan as to the source of its information.” -*

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

Has anyone been blown up in Thailand lately?

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Yes, you are right, the words Southeast Asia shouldn’t be get so much intonation in such topics, as it has nothing to do with geography. lol

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The Philippines is the country where Japanese are killed the most. Japanese are killed every year.

Mostly robbery and murder for money.

https://honsuki.jp/series/kikenshisou/5567.html

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Call me out if I'm wrong, but it sounds like the Japanese government's big-noting itself to me, but for what purpose I'm not exactly sure, unless it's to stimulate support from other nations in the area against possible threats generally from North Korea and China

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

False flag fear mongering?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Religious facilities"? Well, that's kinda broad,

It doesn't take a genius to work it out, it will be an attack on Christian worship places by you know who.

-4 ( +14 / -18 )

A generalized warning to several countries? An upcoming anniversary of something? Japan alone issues warning to its citizens, and suddenly stands out because of this?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Japan's Foreign Ministry urged its citizens on Monday to stay away from religious facilities and crowds in six Southeast Asian nations, warning of a possible attack.

The ministry said it had obtained information that "there are increased risks such as suicide bombings."

True. Bidens disastrous failure in Afghanistan has given the militant Jihad a shot in the arm. That said, the thread of jihadist suicide bombers is always there, I hope we are not back to those days of '"code red, orange, yellow" after 9.11.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Japan love to make ridiculous announcements.

Perhaps it helps them feel in control.

Scared of their own shadow.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Ironic how Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia are excluded.

Three countries are the most stable ones in the ASEAN with no insurgency or terrorism whatsoever.

Maybe Vietnam pressed them to say this during their recent meetings.

Given how the Defence Minister of Japan visited Vietnam a day ago, so it is possible.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

I am going to assume this is because the US has left Afghanistan and the neo-conservatives are propagating the myth that somehow terrorist attacks are going to increase as a result of the US not being able to intercept communications of terror plots around the world as well as they used to. Or perhaps they believe that the terrorists have become emboldened by the Taliban and the tactics they used over the years against the US.

Regardless, I think this warning is typical of the Japanese government. One of those paranoid "just in case" things they do without any solid evidence, like how all the garbage cans disappeared from train stations.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Maybe the warning should be for SEVEN countries:

Swelling Anti-Asian Violence: Who Is Being Attacked Wherehttps://www.nytimes.com › 2021/04/03 › anti-asian-attacks Apr 3, 2021 — There have been many more attacks on people of Asian descent in which hate is not a clear motivation the way it is when racial slurs are ...

Anti-Asian hate crimes in California jumped 107% - Los ...

https://www.latimes.com › california › story › california...

Jun 30, 2021 — From assaults on senior citizens in the Bay Area to the shooting of six women at Atlanta-area spas, violence against Asians has surged ...

Hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise. - USA ...

https://www.usatoday.com › news › nation › 2021/02/27

Feb 27, 2021 — Asian Americans are calling on political leaders and law enforcement to address growing concerns over coronavirus-related racial attacks.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Where did the intelligence come from? The Five Eyes?

That I can easily estimate and continuously expect even blindly, totally drunken, sleepy at 2.30a.m. But you are right, a few stupid people or ignorants need four eyes and intelligence services’ warnings beforehand. lol

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Surprising. Japan is an ally and economic partner of those nations, is tolerant of all religions and certainly does not wage war against any of them. There are no known terror groups that hate Japan.

It baffles me as to why Japanese citizens could be targeted for any terror attacks.

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

Maybe Vietnam pressed them to say this during their recent meetings.

-10 ( +8 / -18 )

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