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Two soldiers are killed and another is injured during a live fire exercise at a training area in Gifu, Japan, as a recruit opens fire at them. The suspect is apprehended and charged with the attempted murder of a soldier.
2023-06-14

Japan opens two mass vaccination centres in Tokyo and Osaka staffed by Japan Self-Defense Forces two months before the delayed Summer Olympics as the country aims to vaccinate up to 10,000 people per day in Tokyo and another 5,000 per day in Osaka for the next three months.
2021-05-24

Japan announces it will raise military spending (1.1%) for an eighth consecutive year to a record high as it invests in ballistic missile and air defence to counter a perceived threat from North Korea and China.
2019-12-20

Two explosions in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, kill at least one person and injure three others. Local media report that a 72-year-old ex-military officer is responsible for the blasts. A fire the same day destroyed the suspect's house.
2016-10-23

Japan places its military on high alert to be ready to shoot down any missile heading for its territory amid reports of a possible North Korean launch of an intermediate-range missile from its east coast.
2016-06-21

As part of its wider military build up along the Japanese archipelagos in the East China Sea, Japan activates a new radar station on the island of Yonaguni that is close to the disputed Senkaku Islands. [https:--www.reuters.com-article-us-japan-china-eastchinasea-idUSKCN0WT0QZ (Reuters)]China–Japan relations
2016-03-28

As part of its wider military build up along the Japanese archipelagos in the East China Sea, Japan activates a new radar station on the island of Yonaguni that is close to the disputed Senkaku Islands.
2016-03-28

Japan's lower house of parliament passes a pair of bills changing the country's security laws, allowing Japanese soldiers to fight overseas for the first time since the end of World War II under certain conditions, over strong protests from opposition lawmakers, who walked out of the vote.
2015-07-16

Benigno Aquino, the President of the Philippines, says that his government will start discussions with Japan about allowing Japan Self-Defense Forces to refuel at Filipino bases allowing the extension of operations into the South China Sea.
2015-06-5

Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe vows to defend the Senkaku Islands "at all costs" in a speech aimed at the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
2013-02-2