Meet the Japanese marines getting ready to storm Australian beaches

Sydney Morning Herald

6 days ago

It is also the largest combined training activity between the Australian Defence Force and the United States military, which the ADF says reflects 'the closeness of our alliance'.
Japan, Australia and the US are quickly stepping up their military co-operation in a strategic push against China and the exercises will be the first step in delivering a commitment from the countries' defence ministers to work together on amphibious warfare.
Simulated beach landings near Rockhampton will involve the 31st US Marines as well as the Japanese units amid concerns in all three countries about China's military build-up and deepening ties between North Korea and Russia.
China has sent spy ships to monitor the Talisman Sabre exercise regularly since 2017 with a keen interest in how the Japanese navy works with US and Australian forces. Defence Minister Richard Marles said he fully expects China to monitor the operation again in 2025.
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Tomohiko Satake, an associate professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and a Japan-Australia security expert, said Australia, the US and Japan have moved from training for abstract scenarios to planning for the actual prospect of conflict.
'It's stepped up to the more high-end co-operation between two militaries, so apparently they're preparing for the war scenarios, actual contingencies, such as Taiwan Strait, or the Korean Peninsula,' he said.
He argues the broad purpose of the co-operation between the three nations is collective defence or deterrence against any use of force by China to change the regional status quo.
He says the Japanese marines are primarily for defence of Senkaku Islands, uninhabited but strategically useful islands near Taiwan that China also claims and calls the Daioyu Islands.
Taking the plunge
Although they're colloquially known as Japanese marines, the ARDB mission is different from their counterparts in the US Marine Corp who are considered an expeditionary force, immediately deployable for combat in a foreign nation. The Japanese marines' focus is on island defence.
Training in the near-tropical climate of Camp Ainoura involves all aspects of capturing and holding an island. Live-fire exercises are common on the base and swimming and rescue drills are on high rotation, alongside leaping from heights equivalent to the deck of a ship.
Sergeant Kentaro Yamanaka was already serving in the army when the ARDB recruiters came knocking. He put his hand up immediately. 'They go to the front, it's a very aggressive unit, so I joined,' he said. He and counterpart Sergeant Tsubasa Sagae are excited at the prospect of training in Australia.
'I'd like to compete with another nation,' Sagae says. 'I have to focus on accuracy and how quickly I can fire the mortar. It's my mission.'