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SDF drill simulates retaking island

19 Comments
By Ruairidh Villar

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Japan is made up of freaking islands. What this drill shows is that Japan is clearly working on self defense, and practicing defending islands.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

it's not just about little islands, its about resources and japanese honor and defense, if you take a bit of this and a bit of that, soon you have the norther half of japan attacked.

Japan bought those islands the same way America bought Alaska from Russia, do you see us here in Canada demanding Alaska?

Japan has every right to defend itself, just as north america or europe wouldn't allow some nation to just say "this is ours just because"

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Mar044 & Cortes Elijah 100%

Prevention is better than cure.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

The Senkakus are much closer to Taiwan than to Okinawa, and as such, are not part of the Ryukyu islands and never part of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Spokesman, I'm sorry, but this is flat-out misleading. They're closer to Taiwan than to the main Okinawan island, but they're part of the long chain of Okinawan islands that stretches to Taiwan, with the sea between Yonaguni and Taiwan forming the border.

The Senkaku islands are closer to Ishigaki than any other place. They're closer to Yonaguni -- which lies south-west of it than they are to Taiwan. And they're very far east of the midpoint line between Taiwan and Yonaguni. A Taiwan-Japan border that put the Senkakus in Taiwan would be a bizarre overhang that nearly encircles Yonaguni on two sides.

People from the Yaeyamas and Yonaguni have used Uotsuri-jima (the biggest Senkaku) and the waters around it as fishing grounds for centuries. I'm not aware of anyone from the Lo-tung side of Taiwan doing that.

when the Japanese colonized Taiwan, even they included the Senkakus as part of Taiwan.

Gonna need a non-PRC, pre-1970 source on this one.

I am sure there is some rock in my yard I hardly pay attention to. Hardly gives anyone the right to take it only to do as much nothing with it.

This should be said to the PRC. The Senkakus are rocks in the Okinawan "yard" that few people pay any attention to. It does not give China the right to take them away.

The only question is if we are going to justify spoils of war. If we do, then we can say the islands are Japanese. Is that so hard?

It's very hard indeed, because these islands have nothing at all to do with any war, nor did they change hands as a result of any war.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

They will ver much need that drill, unless they take preemtive action and establish a presence on the Senkakus now, regardless of the hysterical screaming from Peking.

Just ask the Vietnamese about their experiences with the Chinese in the Paracel islands. (Or the Philippines for that matter in the Spratleys.)

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Japan took them by war, there was just no one there to kill, just as there is not today.

The Spokesman, this is nonsense; you are being conned by CCP propaganda.

All the southwestern islands were taken from Okinawans in the 1600s and forcibly amalgamated into the daimyo's territory and then into the nation of Japan.

They were never taken from China, as the CCP would have you believe. No Chinese person has even lived or built a structure on any of the Senkaku islands.

Japan's historical treatment of Okinawa may be a disgrace, but China's "claims" to things they never owned and to "facts" that are nowhere near the truth, are even more disgraceful.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Well. I have seen real photographs of Japanese fishing in that Island. Have never seen chinese doing anything there. Being close of another coubtry doesnt give you the right to take it from someone else. But land grabing countries do it all the time. And thats china and russia

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Good to see the SDF practicing newly learned skills (from the USMC) to retake outlying islands. Thanks to the PRC for being the reason the SDF have finally procured a skill set they absolutely need to effectively defend Japan.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Spokesman, I'm just going to say my piece and leave it here rather than continuing to argue. If you want the last word, you can have it.

Sino-Japanese war. 1895. You actually want us to believe it was a coincidence the Diaoyu islands were annexed by Japan in the same year?

They weren't "annexed" that year; their existing status as Okinawan territory was formally confirmed. That doesn't mean they took them from China in any way.

I have a map from 1893 (before the war with China) that includes them with Okinawa. Various things happened in the year 1895. Settlers were first sent to the Daito islands, the southeasternmost in Okinawa, during the Russo-Japanese was a recade or so later. That doesn't make those little rocks Russian.

No. The Yaeyama islands are a separate chain from the Ryukyus.

This is absolutely untrue, and makes me wonder where you're getting your info. The Ryukyu chain stretches from the Amami group (part of Kagoshima prefecture) all the way to Yonaguni.

I have spend a lot of time in the Yaeyamas. Believe me, if you told people on Ishigaki, Iriomote, Hatoma, etc. that they're not part of the Ryukyus, it would be news to them. And the islands get many Taiwanese visitors, none of whom harangue the locals about possession of the islands north of them.

Diaoyu literally means "fishing platform" in Chinese!

The biggest island in the chain is called 魚釣 Uotsuri, which is basically the same thing as Chinese 釣魚, only reflecting each language's word order.. (In Japanese, it just means "fishing", and has nothing to do with a platform.)

They are most certainly not in the Okinawan yard unless you recognize spoils of war as legit. Do you or do you not?

Draw a line halfway between Taiwan and Yonaguni. West of the line is Taiwan; east of it is Okinawa. On which side do the Senkaku Islands lie?

I offer no opinion on the legitimacy of spoils of war, because these islands were never such spoils.

I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this. But I highly recommend visiting the Yaeyamas if you have the opportunity.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I suggest a new set of priorities. Something that puts civilian life at the top.

I guess if someone attacks you he don't care about life of civilians on your side...

1 ( +7 / -6 )

SDF make all ki ds of drills in a daily basis

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Chuck. Fina

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Mmmmmm simulates........

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

defending remote islands as a policy priority.

I suggest a new set of priorities. Something that puts civilian life at the top.

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

“But these capabilities are absolutely vital to protecting our land, sea and skies,”

You need to be protected from yourselves!

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

They were never taken from China

I am only speaking of the Senkakus here. The Senkakus are much closer to Taiwan than to Okinawa, and as such, are not part of the Ryukyu islands and never part of the Ryukyu Kingdom. I never heard that that they had Ryukyu names ever, and the Japanese names are a more modern invention. The Chinese names are ancient and even the Japanese used to use them. The Chinese knew of the islands when they used to sail to the vassal state of Ryukyu. And the last nail in the coffin is that when the Japanese colonized Taiwan, even they included the Senkakus as part of Taiwan.

All this talk of well, the Chinese did not live on them, or put up a marker or send emissaries to the world to declare the islands theirs is rubbish. Next someone will say some mountain in China is theirs since the Chinese never did any of the above but only named that mountain. Its rubbish. I am sure there is some rock in my yard I hardly pay attention to. Hardly gives anyone the right to take it only to do as much nothing with it.

Japan's historical treatment of Okinawa may be a disgrace, but China's "claims" to things they never owned

More rubbish. Some of you seem to think that China only sprung into existence a couple centuries ago. China is ancient, with the most well documented ancient exploration of any other Asian country. Like them or not like them, those are the facts.

The only question is if we are going to justify spoils of war. If we do, then we can say the islands are Japanese. Is that so hard?

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Yes, it looks like self-defense preparation but in Japan nothing is quite what it seems. In the name of Japanese honor things take on a momentum and consequences be damned. Read "Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy" by Eri Hotta see how this happens.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

It's very hard indeed, because these islands have nothing at all to do with any war, nor did they change hands as a result of any war.

Sino-Japanese war. 1895. You actually want us to believe it was a coincidence the Diaoyu islands were annexed by Japan in the same year?

Gonna need a non-PRC, pre-1970 source on this one.

Nope. Apparently just a mistake. The Diaoyu were incorporated into Okinawa. I am not sure why I thought they were administered with the Senkakus during the colonization of Taiwan, but that hardly dents my other points.

but they're part of the long chain of Okinawan islands that stretches to Taiwan

No. The Yaeyama islands are a separate chain from the Ryukyus. Diaoyu is part of neither.

The Senkaku islands are closer to Ishigaki than any other place.

170 km from both Taiwan and Ishigaki. Equidistant.

People from the Yaeyamas and Yonaguni have used Uotsuri-jima (the biggest Senkaku) and the waters around it as fishing grounds for centuries.

So you say. But how are you going to prove that? Ancient Chinese documentation of the islands is clear.

I'm not aware of anyone from the Lo-tung side of Taiwan doing that.

Diaoyu literally means "fishing platform" in Chinese!

The Senkakus are rocks in the Okinawan "yard" that few people pay any attention to.

They are most certainly not in the Okinawan yard unless you recognize spoils of war as legit. Do you or do you not?

A Taiwan-Japan border that put the Senkakus in Taiwan would be a bizarre overhang that nearly encircles Yonaguni on two sides.

By that measure, Britain must return Gibraltar to Spain. Ridiculous! Inconvenient borders is just tough. International law makes no accounting for them for good reason. If they did, Taiwan would have the better claim to the Yaeyama islands. No. No way. Yaeyama belongs to Japan. Diaoyu to China/Taiwan. Loopy borders happen.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Just ask the Vietnamese about their experiences with the Chinese in the Paracel islands. (Or the Philippines for that matter in the Spratleys.)

You should study history a bit more. Its not remotely that simple and China's claims are at least as good as all the other claimants in these disputes, which includes Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The Philippines only started claiming Spratley islands after ROC was booted to Taiwan and China was weak.

China has decent historical claims to the Senkakus too. Japan claims terra-nullius which is a lie. Japan took them by war, there was just no one there to kill, just as there is not today.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

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