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Japan has told the United States it will end a naval refueling mission [in the Indian Ocean] that supports the war in Afghanistan, a top defence official said...Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took office last month, has said he wants "more equal" relations with the United States and that he opposes plans to build a new US air base on the southern island of Okinawa...

For over 50 years, one party ruled Japan virtually uninterrupted. During that time, Japan remained a loyal ally and supporter of U.S. policy. This month, a historic event took place. Japan has new leadership. In a landslide victory, a new party has done the seemingly impossible. A new freshman class of leaders now governs the Land of the Rising Sun. The effects are already rippling across the Pacific toward America. Yukio Hatoyama is Japan’s new leader. He officially took office last Wednesday, and he is already threatening to split with the United States. Hatoyama blames America for the global economic...

Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, has caused alarm in Washington after publishing an article blaming the US for the ills of capitalism, the global economy and "the destruction of human dignity". He also intends to examine an agreement that permits US warships to dock at Japanese ports, in violation of the nation's non-nuclear principles. Mr Hatoyama says he will also look again at the $6 billion cost faced by Japan to transfer thousands of US troops from their base in Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam amid a wide-ranging review of the American military...

Japan has announced it is extending its military mission in Afghanistan by another year. The decision was taken despite fierce resistance from the opposition. The Japanese navy provides logistical support to the international coalition in Afghanistan, including refuelling warships in the Indian Ocean.

On Saturday, the New York Times criticized the Pentagon’s spending plans for buying, among other things, the F-22 stealth fighter, also known as the Raptor. According to the paper, that’s just concentrating on “the kind of weapons that might have made sense during the cold war but have little use in the kind of conflicts America is involved in and is likely to face in the foreseeable future.” The Air Force acquired the F-22 to penetrate the Soviet Union and face its fleet of Su-27 fighters. The Times reasons that, because the USSR disappeared, so did our need for the...

Defense Ministry eyes domestic fighter jet The Yomiuri Shimbun The Defense Ministry will include in its fiscal 2008 budgetary request funds to develop a manned prototype fifth-generation fighter jet equipped with stealth capabilities and other advanced technologies, sources said Monday. With the production of F-2 support fighters, jointly developed by Japan and the United States, scheduled to end in fiscal 2011, the ministry apparently plans to maintain the foundations for future technological development, the sources said. The sources also said the ministry, by showing interest in developing jet fighters domestically, hopes to gain an edge in negotiations with the United...

Loving tender and holding tight are about more than Elvis for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi . Beneath the spontaneity and flamboyance that his countrymen sum up as Koizumi Theater lies heartfelt compassion. On Thursday last week, the day before he went to Graceland, Koizumi spent some quality time with U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq and recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Koizumi, boyish with a bohemian hair flip, chatted with several patients and posed for pictures with them and their families on the hospital's fifth floor, the Japanese Embassy's minister for public affairs, Mitsuru Kitano , said...

President Bush and Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi held a press conference (text and video here) at the White House to discuss the war on terror, defending freedom and democracy, promoting regional security and prosperity in Asia (including North Korea), and enhancing closer cooperation on global economic issues (including Japan now agreeing to open its markets to US beef). This is Koizumi's farewell visit, as he steps down from his position as Prime Minister in September. President and Mrs. Bush will host an official dinner tonight for the Prime Minister. Secretary of State Rice continues her G8 Foreign Minister Summit...

A Japanese soldier waves while aboard an armoured vehicle in Samawa, 270 km (160 miles) south of Baghdad December 27, 2005. Hundreds of Japanese troops who are in Iraq for humanitarian missions have just completed a water facilities project in Iraq's southern city. (REUTERS/Mohameed Ameen)

TOKYO - The Japanese government has decided to proceed with the United States in developing a joint missile defense shield, a top government official said Saturday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said steps would be taken to ensure the decision to pursue the shield, which uses defensive missiles to destroy attacking ones before they reach their targets, does not violate Japan’s pacifist constitution. “Amid proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the system is a genuinely defensive, and the only instrument to protect the lives and assets of our people,” Abe said. “It suits the defense policy...

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's Cabinet on Thursday approved the extension of the country's troop deployment in Iraq for one year, paving the way for the government to prolong Tokyo's largest military mission since World War II. Japan deployed about 600 troops to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on a humanitarian mission in early 2004 as part of the U.S.-led coalition. The one-year renewal extends the deployment - due to expire next week - to Dec. 14, 2006. The extension, however, does not require the troops to remain in Iraq for the full year, and local media have reported that...

Japan's increasing reliance on US wins few friends in jittery region Koizumi's deteriorating relationship with China might confront Canberra with unpleasant choices, writes Tokyo correspondent Peter Alford JAPAN is becoming more isolated in Asia as its strategic engagement with the US tightens and its difficulties with China worsen. Its few friends are growing worried. As a result of Junichiro Koizumi's refusal last week to foreswear further visits to the Yasukuni shrine war memorial, South Korea's Roh Moo-hyun seems to have joined China's top leaders in refusing formal meetings with him. Chinese President Hu Jintao now declines to meet his Japanese...

A Vital Alliance, Built by Bush By Peter Brookes CNSNews.com Commentary November 15, 2005 President Bush, now in Japan, deserves a victory lap for a singular foreign policy accomplishment -- growing and deepening the U.S.-Japan alliance. Bush critics bemoan the state of relations with supposed European allies like France and Germany, but overlook the improvements in the Japanese alliance. Yet Japan is becoming a partner to America comparable only to Britain -- a staunch ally in the region, and a global partner in other issues around the globe; two powers that share similar values and vision, willing to pool resources...

The leader of Japan's main opposition party says that victory in next month's election means Japanese troops, which are being protected by Australian forces, will be pulled out of Iraq. Some 600 Japanese troops are based in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, which is under the control of Australian soldiers stationed in Al Muthanna province. Katsuya Okada, president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), railed against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's decision to extend the historic deployment of Japanese forces. "If we win the election, that means Japanese nationals wish to withdraw from Iraq, as we have promised it...

Scotland: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he had no plans to withdraw his troops from Iraq following the fatal bomb blasts in London. Asked by journalists at a Group of Eight summit here if he would consider bringing the troops home, Koizumi replied: "No." The attacks and the Japanese operation in Iraq "should not be directly linked," he said. A group calling itself the Organisation of Al-Qaeda Jihad in Europe claimed yesterday's attacks in London and threatened similar strikes in Denmark, Italy and other "Crusader" states with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Japan, a major US ally in...

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan will pull its troops out of Iraq in December when the term of its current humanitarian mission expires, local media quoted government officials as saying. The government is expected to notify parliament and countries concerned as early as September after studying the situation in Iraq, Kyodo News reported late Wednesday, quoting unnamed government sources. It will then switch its aid mainly to official development assistance, it said. Officials were not available for comment on Thursday, a national holiday. The arrangement is meant to coincide with the scheduled launch of a permanent Iraqi government and the expiration...

Escalating tension with China, violently illustrated by renewed anti-Japanese protests in Shanghai and other big cities at the weekend, is increasing pressure on Tokyo to expand its military capabilities and back a deepening strategic alliance with the US reaching from east Asia to the Gulf. Japan's pacifist postwar constitution restricts its armed forces to self-defence. About 50,000 US troops in Okinawa and other bases guarantee the country's security in return for a $5bn (£2.6bn) Japanese cash contribution. But defence analysts say the perceived Chinese threat, a more assertive, nationalistic Japanese mindset, and Washington's wish to use Japan as a command...

Italy’s possible scale-down of its troops in Iraq will have no effect on Japan’s deployment of 550 troops in the country, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said today. “Italy is Italy, Japan is Japan,” Koizumi told reporters when asked if the prospect of a pullout by Rome could lead to a similar move by Tokyo. Japan has been a vocal supporter of the US-led military mission in Iraq and has dispatched 550 troop to the southern city of Samawah on a humanitarian operation in support of reconstruction.

The new U.S.-Japanese statement of “Common Strategic Goals” adopted on February 19 capped a decade of deepening security ties between the two countries. Indeed, the statement is intended to serve as a guideline for the comprehensive transformation of the alliance. While the upgrading of the alliance serves a number of Tokyo’s strategic purposes, there is no mistaking the fact that Japan has decided to join the United States in its grand strategy of checking China’s great-power ambitions. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Tokyo has taken advantage of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Washington’s encouragement of Japanese efforts...

Japan to become 'Britain of the Far East'By Kosuke Takahashi The accord between the United States and Japan calling for strengthened bilateral military and security ties - ties already reinforced by China's military buildup, North Korea's nuclear crisis, and the global threat of terrorism - marks the evolution of the US-Japan relationship and signals a critical historic phase in the early 21st century. With possible flashpoints ranging from the Middle East to Northeast Asia, the US global military transformation - under fire from many quarters - is transforming Japan itself into a reliable and unswerving "Britain of the Far...

LET US TALK OF ALLIES, but not, at least for once this week, of Europeans. After all, the United States is human history's one and only superpower. Our security concerns are genuinely global; our political principles are universal. So why should we obsess primarily about how we are regarded only in Paris or Berlin? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is an irritating man, to be sure, but all the more so for being intermittently insightful. One of Rumsfeld's rules is that the mission determines the coalition. In the early 21st century, the United States has two important missions if it is...

Remarks With Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Japan's Foreign Minister Machimura and Defense Minister Ohno Secretary Condoleezza Rice Loy Henderson Auditorium Washington, DC February 19, 2005 11:40 a.m. EST SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had the pleasure this morning of welcoming our colleagues from Japan, Foreign Minister Machimura and Defense Minister Ohno, to a very productive session on U.S.-Japan security consultations. This is a so-called two plus two. We've had very fruitful discussions this morning. Our discussions have reflected the importance that our President and Prime Minister Koizumi place on this longstanding alliance with Japan. It...

     Joint StatementRichard BoucherWashington, DCFebruary 19, 2005 U.S.-Japan Joint Statement on North Korea The following joint statement was agreed upon by the U.S. and Japan on February 19, 2005: The U.S. Secretary of State and the Japanese Foreign Minister made clear their deep concern over the D.P.R.K. Foreign Ministry Statement dated February 10, 2005, which publicly declared that North Korea would suspend its participation in the Six-Party Talks for an indefinite period and that it had manufactured nuclear weapons. The Ministers affirmed that North Korea’s nuclear program poses a serious challenge to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and...

Despite public unease and questions of legitimacy under Japan's constitution, the Japanese cabinet agreed on Thursday the country's troops will stay in Iraq for another year. This comes as Japan puts the final touches on a sweeping overhaul of its defense policy that will give its armed forces a greater role globally and could upset neighbours like China and North Korea. The cabinet endorsed the extension of the deployment of up to 600 Self-Defense Force (SDF) troops in Iraq after the ruling coalition -- the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito -- gave their approval earlier in the day....

Allies Seek Peace, Stability in East Asia WASHINGTON - Shared concern about China and its threat to use force against Taiwan are drawing Japan and the United States closer in their determination to maintain peace and stability in East Asia. While the Bush administration says it supports China's emergence as an economic power in the region and the world, the overriding U.S. message to Beijing is, as State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday: "Play by the rules." Increasingly, Japan is growing bolder in publicly seconding that view. During talks Saturday in Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary...

Japan and the US will on Saturday sign a new joint security agreement, that puts Tokyo on a more assertive footing in East Asia at a time of rising Chinese power. Redrafting the 1996 joint declaration on bilateral security, Japan will for the first time join the US in identifying Taiwan as a shared security concern. America's alliance with Japan has been the foundation of Washington's policy in the Asia-Pacific for more than a generation, but Tokyo and Washington have historically diverged over Taiwan, the island that broke away from China after the 1949 revolution. While the US has pledged...

Japan and the United States have agreed upon a framework for carrying out common strategic objectives, the Kyodo news agency reported Saturday. Sources said the objectives will be detailed in a joint statement expected to be issued at a meeting of foreign and defense ministers Feb. 19 in Washington. The framework explains how Japan and the United States will reinforce ties to deal with new threats; including the spread of weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles, and activities of international terrorist groups. The framework operates under the claim that China's growing military power amid lingering tensions with Taiwan and North...

TOKYO - Japan's defense chief on Sunday said that Japanese troops could remain in Iraq until late 2005, a year longer than their current mandate. Some 500 Japanese troops are on a humanitarian mission in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. Their mandate expires Dec. 14, and the government hasn't yet decided if the troops will stay. Asked about a potential pullout, Defense Minister Yoshinori Ono said several factors had to be considered, including whether the troops had fulfilled their mission to help rebuild the country. ``Another factor to consider is that a mission by multinational troops expires next...

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Tuesday that Iraqis wanted Japan to keep its troops in the country, amid opposition criticism that the war was discredited after the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. “Helping them with reconstruction efforts, the Self Defence Forces are appreciated by local residents as the troops are carrying out the Japanese people’s goodwill,” Koizumi told lawmakers as parliament convened. “Iraqi Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi appreciates our country’s humanitarian and reconstruction assistance and asked us to continue our activity as we met last month,” he said, noting that Tokyo would host a two-day donors’ meeting...

TOKYO (Reuters) - If Junichiro Koizumi could vote in the November U.S. presidential election, the Japanese prime minister would almost certainly cast his ballot for his diplomatic soul mate, President Bush. Koizumi has closely linked his security policy to the Republican president, spending considerable political capital to back the war in Iraq and send troops there on a risky non-combat mission -- despite opposition from Japan's own voters. "Koizumi feels that he did certain things to support Bush in Iraq and believes that Bush owes him one," said Glen Fukushima, a former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in...

CAMP FUJI, Japan — (July 23, 2004) -- Marines demonstrated security and stability operations, like those currently in use in Iraq, for a contingent of Japan Self Defense Force officers here July 23. The demonstration was conducted to help prepare the next group of JSDF soldiers for an upcoming deployment to Iraq. According to Col. Ronald F. Baczkowski, 4th Marine Regiment commanding officer, Camp Fuji is an appropriate location for this historic moment in the history of cooperation between the Marine Corps and the JSDF. For years, both forces have shared the training ranges here and the SASO training will...

TOKYO (AFP) - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet approved a plan to allow Japanese troops to join a UN-sanctioned multinational force in Iraq. Japan, one of Washington's staunchest backers over the Iraq war, has around 550 troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa providing post-war humanitarian assistance in its most controversial and dangerous mission since 1945. "Under the multinational force, the Self-Defense Forces (Japanese military) will continue their activities," after the handover of power to Iraqis on June 30, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told a news conference after the cabinet meeting. "The Self-Defense Forces will act under the...

<p>TOKYO (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney will appeal Tuesday to a divided Japanese public, in shock over the kidnapping of three citizens in Iraq, to get behind the U.S.-backed mission there.</p> <p>Cheney pledged in closed-door talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to "do everything we can" to secure the release of the hostages, and praised Koizumi for standing up to the Iraqi insurgents and keeping troops there despite mounting domestic pressure to withdraw.</p>

<p>TOKYO (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney, on a mission to urge nations allied against terrorism to stand fast with the United States in Iraq, arrived Saturday in Tokyo as anti-war groups demonstrated in the city for a second day.</p>

<p>TOKYO — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (search) denounced threats that three Japanese captives in Iraq (search) would be burned alive as "cowardly" and vowed Friday that Japan's troops would stay in the country, despite tearful pleas from the families of the victims.</p> <p>Television networks repeatedly aired dramatic video of the captives -- two aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34, and photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32.</p>

TOKYO (Reuters) - Facing his most serious political test, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Friday he had no plans to withdraw Japan's troops from Iraq (news - web sites) despite the kidnapping of three Japanese civilians in the increasingly violent country. Calls for Koizumi to withdraw Japan's non-combat troops are growing after the kidnapping, and some analysts said mishandling of the crisis could even bring down the government. A previously unknown Iraqi group released a video of the hostages on Thursday and vowed to "burn them alive" if Japanese troops did not leave Iraq within three days. Asked...

<p>April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Japan has ``no reason'' to withdraw its troops from Iraq after Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station reported kidnappers are holding three Japanese journalists, a spokesman for the Pacific nation said.</p> <p>Kidnappers will kill the journalists they are holding in Iraq in three days unless Japanese forces withdraw from the country, Al-Jazeera reported, showing video pictures of the hostages, and citing a group called the Mujahedeen Brigades.</p>

April 3, 2004 TOKYO, April 2 — As the United States races to erect a ballistic missile defense system by the end of the year, it is quietly enlisting Japan and other allies in Asia to take part in the network, which could reshape the balance of power in the region. Last week, a few days after the United States Navy announced that it would deploy a destroyer in September in the Sea of Japan as a first step in forming a system capable of intercepting missiles, Japan's Parliament approved spending $1 billion this year to start work on a...

KUWAIT-IRAQ BORDER, March 20 (Reuters) - A new group of Japanese troops crossed into Iraq from Kuwait on Saturday to join countrymen serving as part of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, days after Spain said it plans to withdraw soldiers from the country. Some 130 Japanese troops rolled into Iraq in a convoy of about 50 trucks and armoured personnel carriers mounted with heavy machineguns. They were heading towards the city of Samawa in southern Iraq, where some 250 Japanese troops are building a base and conducting humanitarian operations. The deployment comes several days after Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez...

Around 190 Japanese ground troops have left for Iraq to join about 240 troops already in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa on humanitarian work, an army spokesman said. Following a send-off ceremony with colleagues and family members, the troops departed on two government planes from Hokkaido, northern Japan. They will arrive in Kuwait on Sunday and stay there for a few days to undergo training at a US army camp before heading to Samawa, 270 kilometres south of Baghdad. By the end March, another 120 ground troops, the last contingent of Japan's some 550-strong humanitarian mission, will leave for...

TOKYO: Japan said yesterday it will place $450 million of the money it has pledged for Iraq's reconstruction into international trust funds.Tokyo will put $360m into a fund managed by the UN Development Programme and the remaining $90m into a World Bank fund, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi announced. The disbursement comprises part of the $5 billion aid package that Japan has pledged to help rebuild the Gulf country. "The contribution is expected to advance the reconstruction of Iraq at the earliest date possible and promote prompt support for Iraq from the international community," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement....

Japanese forces arrive to help by Senior Airman James C. Dillard386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs 1/30/2004 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- Three Japanese air self-defense force C-130Hs arrived here Jan. 30, bringing to fruition an initial deployment plan Japanese forces thought would never happen. This is the first time since World War II Japanese troops have deployed supporting humanitarian activities in a hostile area. The JASDF joins the coalition as they begin deploying troops to Southwest Asia supporting humanitarian projects such as rebuilding schools, offering medical assistance and aiding in mending Iraq's infrastructure. The approval for the deployment of the JASDF came...

Japan Air Self-Defense Force team leaves for Iraq KOMAKI, Aichi -- The Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) main troops to be dispatched to Kuwait to support Iraqi reconstruction left its base here Thursday afternoon.A government-owned Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet took off from ASDF Komaki base carrying 110 members of the unit.The troops will join the ASDF advance team that was dispatched to a U.S. base in Kuwait late last year, and begin supply transportation missions in early February.Prior to the departure, the ASDF held a send-off ceremony attended by Defense Agency deputy chief Yasukazu Hamada."I imagine you will face problems...

Japan's decision to send forces to Iraq is a "historic move," said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers during a press conference here today. Myers, here to meet with Japanese military leaders, said the Japanese decision to send about 1,000 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force to Iraq is welcomed by the international community. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced the decision in December. This is the first time Japanese forces will serve as part of a coalition not sponsored by the United Nations. The soldiers will be engaged in helping to rebuild...

Japan sends first batch of troops on Iraq missionAP , NARITA, JAPAN Saturday, Dec 27, 2003,Page 1 Japan dispatched its first military unit for a humanitarian mission to Iraq yesterday, spearheading the country's biggest overseas deployment since World War II. The advance air force contingent of 23 personnel left yesterday morning, split between two commercial flights to Kuwait and Qatar from Tokyo international airport. The remainder of the 40-plus member advance team was to leave in coming days, but officials would not give details. "The time has come for us to go," Colonel Tadashi Miyagawa told dozens of reporters at...

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday approved the Defense Agency's plan to send Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq, putting troops one step closer to full deployment. Following Koizumi's go-ahead, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba is set to order his SDF troops to begin preparations for the mission to rebuild war-torn Iraq on Friday, government sources said. "This is the first mission (for the SDF under volatile conditions). I want you to take every possible safety measure," Koizumi was quoted as telling Ishiba, when the agency chief proposed the plan to the prime minister. Ishiba is also expected to issue an...

<p>TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet yesterday approved the deployment of about 1,000 soldiers to help with the reconstruction of Iraq, the biggest commitment of Japanese troops overseas since World War II.</p> <p>In a nationally televised news conference, Mr. Koizumi explained his decision to a public that has opposed the action because of concerns that it would risk troops' lives and make Japan a more likely target for international terrorist groups.</p>

The Associated Press TOKYO Dec. 4 — The bodies of two Japanese diplomats slain in Iraq were flown to Tokyo on Thursday, while major newspapers reported that the prime minister has approved a plan to start sending 1,000 troops for non-combat duty in Iraq. The diplomats' deaths, the first Japanese fatalities in Iraq since the U.S.-led war started in March, heightened fears that sending troops would make Japan a target of terrorist attacks. But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said the killings must not deter Japan from contributing to Iraq reconstruction efforts. The Mainichi daily said Koizumi approved the decision...

Japanese Donor Program Brings $1.5 Billion to Baghdad   By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Conrad College372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment     BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 2, 2003 — The Japanese government has announced a new donor program, in which $1.5 billion has been committed for humanitarian assistance to Iraq. Eligible projects include primary health care, primary education, poverty relief, public welfare and the environment.Col. Terry Mitchell, chief government officer of the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, an Army Reserve unit from Riverdale, Md, explained details of the announcement to representative civil affairs officers Nov. 26 at the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination...

Dec 2, 7:37 AM ESTJapan Leader Renews Pledge of Iraq TroopsBy NATALIE OBIKO PEARSONAssociated Press Writer TOKYO (AP) -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday stood by his pledge to send troops to Iraq, even as media reported that Japan had decided to postpone sending a team of engineers and doctors there following the murder of two of its diplomats.Senior officials also suggested Japan, which has vowed to send troops to help in Iraq's reconstruction, should consider assigning military guards to protect its delegations abroad.The Asahi newspaper reported Tuesday that Japan had decided to postpone the dispatch of a team...