Japan govt. approves new 5-year plan to create disaster-resilient infrastructure
The plan was approved at Friday's Cabinet meeting. It calls for more than 20 trillion yen, or about 139 billion dollars, to be spent on projects, including the repair and replacement of water supply pipes and sewage pipes.
This comes after a series of cave-ins occurred across the country. Old sewage pipes apparently caused the cave-ins. One massive sinkhole opened up in the city of Yashio, which is located near Tokyo.
Under the plan, sewer pipes with a diameter of at least 2 meters that were installed 30 or more years ago will be replaced by fiscal 2030, if they are deemed to be at high risk of rupturing.
Water pipes that are at least 80 centimeters in diameter and are considered to be at high risk of leaking will be replaced by fiscal 2041.
Also under the plan, officials will focus on improving the accuracy of systems designed to predict the formation of bands of heavy rainclouds and typhoons. The plan calls for tsunami evacuation facilities to be provided as well.
The enhancement of transportation networks in peninsulas and other places is among the other projects in the plan. This comes after a major earthquake hit the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day in 2024.
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru said ahead of the Cabinet meeting that he hopes the relevant government agencies will work closely together, so that the country can become more resilient.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kyodo News
2 hours ago
- Kyodo News
China puts off release of movie on Japanese biological warfare unit
BEIJING - The release of a Chinese movie on the Imperial Japanese Army's notorious Unit 731, which was originally scheduled for Thursday, has been put off in a possible move by Beijing to avoid fanning anti-Japan sentiment and damaging bilateral relations. The release date of the film on local movie ticket purchase apps has been changed from July 31 to 2025, while millions of people online have expressed their interest in the film about the unit, which according to historians conducted biological and chemical warfare research in China during World War II. The movie's production company has declined to comment on the postponement. Those waiting for the release have shown support for the movie in online posts, saying "history should not be forgotten." This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Sino-Japanese conflict, which Beijing calls the 1937-1945 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Set in China's northeastern region, the movie conveys an anti-war message and aims to "reveal the crimes" of Unit 731 through a focus on ordinary individuals, according to media reports. The unit's research is believed to have included lethal experimentation and testing on humans. Prisoners of war were secretly experimented upon to develop, among other things, plague and cholera-based biological weapons, according to historians. The Japanese government says it has not found any evidence confirming the unit conducted experiments on human subjects. In 1997, Japan's Supreme Court, in a ruling concerning state screeners' objection to a history textbook's description of the unit's actions in China, said "the view had been established within academic circles to an undeniable extent that Unit 731 had killed many Chinese people through biological experiments."
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Coordination office marks first step in U.S. Forces Japan's shift to ‘warfighting' command
Since March this year, a small room at a U.S. base in central Tokyo has been at the heart of a historic transformation set to reshape how the U.S.-Japan alliance coordinates military operations, responds to emergencies and projects power. Located at the U.S. Army's Hardy Barracks, the room hosts a team of around a dozen experts from across the military that will play a key role in how U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) and the new Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command (JJOC) — plan and execute joint, multiservice missions going forward. The launch of the JJOC Cooperation Team (JCT) marks the first tangible step in plans announced last year to transform USFJ into a 'warfighting' joint force headquarters amid increasing concerns both in Japan and the U.S. over China's regional assertiveness and its growing military capabilities. The multiyear effort's ultimate aim is for USFJ to increase both its staff and the authority of its commander — currently three-star Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost — over the next few years to command and control forces in Japan, something that has long been the purview of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, of which USFJ is a component. According to Jost, who concurrently commands the Fifth Air Force, the transition from a liaison and planning body to a joint force headquarters will 'enable us to pool our resources, leverage our unique capabilities, and project power more effectively,' while integrating 'new capabilities' across the services. 'But it's not just warfighting. USFJ, whose main role has been alliance management, is growing in responsibility,' Lt. Col. Raffi Mnatzakanian, who leads the JCT's campaign planning, said in an interview. The head of the Self-Defense Forces' new Joint Operations Command, Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo (second from right), at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Eastern Army Headquarters in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, on July 17. | Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command 'It is essentially being placed in a position to not just coordinate activities, but also take a more active role in command-and-controlling U.S. forces in Japan,' he added, explaining that this applies to the entire spectrum of operations ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to armed conflict. Experts say that in order to deal with major incidents, Japan would in the past often stand up a joint task force that would be authorized to manage all branches of the SDF. A joint task force was set up in response to the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster. In 2016, another one was created after a powerful earthquake rocked Kumamoto Prefecture. But things have changed since Tokyo first formally announced in late 2022 its intention to create a joint operations command. The unprecedented move also changed the calculus for the U.S. government, ultimately prompting Washington's decision to upgrade USFJ and launch the JCT — a standing organization, manned every day, that isn't only assembled during exercises or contingencies. This is significant, as the initial phase of the USFJ transformation, which is already under way, involves ramping up both operational and command-and-control capabilities. The moves primarily involve streamlining the traditionally alliance management-focused headquarters structure into a warfighting command and increasing key staff and resources. The JCT's main role will be to act as primary interlocutor and liaison between the two new independent command structures — the upgraded USFJ and the JJOC — and by doing so, eliminate the hitherto "ad-hoc" nature of joint operations. U.S. Marines take part in a joint airborne landing exercise with the Self-Defense Forces at Higashifuji training field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in March 2022. | REUTERS Officials did not provide a time frame for the USFJ reorganization, which is being funded by the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command, or the number of additional personnel to be added as part of the changes. But what's clear is that the transformation is still in its initial phase. 'Just four months ago, we moved into an empty room that had been used as a closet for furniture, so we were starting from scratch,' JCT Deputy Director Lt. Col. Bradley DiDuca said in an interview. The small JCT team, which is led by a colonel but ultimately under the purview of the USFJ commander, is focused on daily, in-person opportunities for collaboration between the two sides. In operation since March, when U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth visited Japan, the JCT has already proven its worth, officials say, by first and foremost enabling much deeper relationships with its JJOC counterparts. 'It allows for more familiar relationships to be built during periods that are not exercise or contingency, meaning that we have an opportunity for more regular interactions with our Japanese counterparts leading up to those events,' DiDuca said. This, in turn, enables a better understanding of what Japan might request from the U.S., or vice versa, in response to any particular incident or crisis. This, DiDuca added, is partially also due to proximity. Hardy Barracks is much closer to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo's Ichigaya area than USFJ headquarters at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, western Tokyo. The U.S. Army's Hardy Barracks in central Tokyo hosts a team of experts that will play a key role in how U.S. Forces Japan and the new Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command plan and execute missions going forward. | GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ Communication between the JCT and JJOC is done in English, Japanese and with an interpreter. Some members of the JJOC are proficient enough in English to permit many interactions to occur in English-only while some JCT members are also proficient in Japanese. However, to ensure clarity, interpreters are often used. Earlier this month, the JJOC and the JCT had their first opportunity to put their growing ties to the test as Japan and the United States conducted a weeklong disaster-response exercise, known as a joint exercise rescue (JXR), that simulated a magnitude 7 earthquake striking the Tokyo Bay area. 'From the U.S. side, our participation in JXR was about coordinating the potential military support or assistance the U.S. could provide or offer to the SDF, which would be in charge of the Japanese government's response,' Mnatzakanian said. This included everything from handling transportation requests to providing medical and other support, he said. Jost, meanwhile, has said he expects the JCT to also continue to grow as USFJ expands its capabilities and authorities. Observers say that the JCT is only the first step on a transformational trail that is still being blazed. U.S. Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost greets the U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, western Tokyo, on July 23. | U.S. Air Force The next step will be to separate USFJ's longtime alliance management role from its developing warfighting functions. While the former will remain within the remit of the USFJ chief, it will be under a new organizational structure that reflects the changing composition of the command. According to a former U.S.-Japan alliance manager, a streamlining of the command-and-control structure with clearly defined roles for the new USFJ would mitigate all but the highest-level coordination misunderstandings and thus smooth out some of the bumps that routinely plague the alliance and the daily function of facilities allowed to be used under the bilateral Status of Force Agreement. This is important, the expert said, as the restrictions under which USFJ units operate in Japan — much stricter than those applied to U.S. units in South Korea — have given Washington pause during previous command-and-control revision discussions. Just how the ongoing transformation will ultimately change USFJ's operational relationships with the U.S. component commands forwarded-deployed in Japan — such as the III Marine Expeditionary Force, the 5th Air Force, U.S. Army Japan and the 7th Fleet — is still unclear. 'This remains in the planning phases,' USFJ spokesman Col. John Severns said. According to the former alliance manager, the greatest challenge to the ongoing transformation lies in the thought put into it ahead of time, including questions such as where the new USFJ will fit into contingency plans for Northeast Asia and beyond, and what new authorities the new command will be granted to enable it to accomplish its new mission. 'Only after answering those two questions can planners, policy, personnel, and logistics folks move ahead and determine how many personnel, and what types of specialties, are required to man such an organization.'
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Thailand and Cambodia trade allegations of truce breaking
Thailand and Cambodia exchanged allegations on Wednesday of breaching a ceasefire deal which has largely halted the open combat that engulfed their frontier. The nations agreed to a truce starting Tuesday after five days of clashes killed at least 43 people on both sides, as a long-standing dispute over contested border temples boiled over into fighting on their 800-kilometer boundary. Khuon Sudary, president of the National Assembly of Cambodia, urged other countries to help ensure the ceasefire is upheld.
