– USNI News – Japan has launched the second in its new class of helicopter carrier — the largest Japanese ships since World War II — in a Thursday ceremony in Yokohama.

– USNI News – The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed major changes in Japan’s defense policy, with strong implications for the United States and U.S. armed forces in the Pacific. The changes, designed to shift Japan away from an isolated, pacifistic defense posture to a more dynamic one based on bilateral and even multilateral relationships, are controversial but not uncommon to most nations.

– Breaking Defense – You’d expect the top admiral in the Japan Self-Defense Force to talk about defending Japan. But Adm. Tomohisa Takei surprised me on his latest visit to Washington — his third in 10 months — with a speech that clearly demonstrates how Japan is broadening its strategic perspective. The new view from Tokyo takes in the Indian Ocean and, especially, the disputed South China Sea. Driving this change, of course, is an alarmingly assertive China.

– FoxtrotAlpha – Japan is looking to further militarize Ishigaki-Jima with both surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles. Ishigaki Island is just 100 miles east of Taiwan and about 100 miles south of the highly disputed Senkaku Islands, putting it in a volatile yet strategic geographic position.

– USNI News – Congress has received notification of a potential $3 billon sale of 17 Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and support equipment to Japan.

– Australian National University Press – A must read new book by Professor Desmond Ball which is freely available.

He writes that Japan is quintessentially by geography a maritime country. Maritime surveillance capabilities – underwater, shore-based and airborne – are critical to its national defence posture. This book describes and assesses these capabilities, with particular respect to the underwater segment, about which there is little strategic analysis in publicly available literature.

– Saturday Paper – The US and Japan have quietly cornered the Chinese navy with an undersea surveillance ring that is framing Australia’s defence policy.

– USNI News – A 24,000-ton helicopter carrier has formally entered the fleet of Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) on Wednesday making the ship the largest warship Japan has fielded since the close of World War II.

– The Diplomat – In order to win, Japan should give China a dose of its own medicine.

– USNI News – The commander of U.S. 7th Fleet said Japan should start patrolling the South China Sea and said China’s claims in the region are resulting in, “unnecessary friction” with neighbors.

– The Diplomat – An announcement that it would be procuring the MV-22 Osprey adds another element to a future amphibious marine force.

– Defense News – Japan’s response to Chinese anti-access/area-denial threats rest on three planks: increasingly large helicopter carriers, next-generation 3,300-ton Soryu-class submarines and new Aegis destroyers.

– USNI News – Japan’s largest warship since World War II has left for its first set of sea trials last week ahead of entering the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF)fleet next year.

– USNI News – Japan’s security environment is “increasingly severe”, according to the Ministry of Defense released its annual defense policy white paper. The report singles out China, Russia and North Korea as potential security threats involving cyber attacks, provocations on the high seas and nuclear weapons.

– War is Boring – Inside Japan’s helicopter destroyer ‘Ise’.

– USNI News – Japanese and Australian leaders plan to sign an agreement that would clear the way for the two countries to collaborate on a future submarine design as Japan seeks to export its military technology against the backdrop of a rising China.

– War is Boring – The Cold War history of Japan’s unarmed ocean surveillance ships and how it relates to today.

– USNI News – China is set to take “firm and effective actions,” in response to a planned move of anti-ship missiles by Japanese Self Defense Force closer to the disputed Senkaku Islands.

– USNI News – Leaders from Japan and Vietnam have signed an agreement to expand maritime security relations between the two countries against a backdrop of an expansionist China.

– The Diplomat – The U.S. and Japan will jointly develop a littoral combat ship (LCS) for quick intervention in shallow waters.

– Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – apan’s New Destroyers Are Intentional Missile-Magnets – On March 12 and 13, the Japanese navy will receive the new Akizuki-class destroyers Suzutsuki and Fuyuzuki. The 6,800-ton warships bristle with weaponry—and for a reason. The two new destroyers are meant to draw enemy fire away from the larger Kongo-class vessels, Tokyo’s most sophisticated naval combatants. If they’re going to have any chance of surviving, the Akizukis need to be able to fight.

– USNI News – This week Japan approved its latest five-year defense plan. The Mid Term Defense Plan (MTDP) defines Japan’s defense policy and capabilities for 2014 to 2018. The Japanese Maritime Defense Force will increase in size.

– Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – Japan boosts military forces to counter China – Japan’s cabinet has approved a new national security strategy and increased defence spending in a move widely seen as aimed at China.

– USNI News – Japan recently has been in the news as a result of several high-profile territorial incidents with its neighbor China. The incidents involve what Japanese call the Senkaku islands—the Diaoyu islands to the Chinese. Japan has legal ownership of the islands, which China disputes. The incidents have involved non-government activists and the coast guards of both nations, with many fearing an escalation could lead to some form of armed conflict. Spurred on by those developments, Japan has accelerated what have been until now quiet plans to develop a specialized unit of marine infantry.

– US Naval War College Review – A review of Japan’s current and upcoming amphibious capabilities.