Damn. Japan got sonned by America and now they all docile and quiet.

[O.T.I.S.]

*timestamped

We are obviously speaking about the present

protecting trade/anti-piracy is massive and being one of the world leaders basically makes your involvement in the protection of critical shipping, development, and partner building an entirely different equation. they can't 'not' be involved because they trade internationally regardless. plus didn't just stop using those lanes after those incidents as well.

its a tangent for sure and i could do a rant on it, but america unseating britain as the international waters honcho without even having to fire a shot at them directly changed the dynamics of trade world-wide in a way historically never seen before and maybe the biggest magic trick never talked about.

but the fact japan just never seemed to value the importance or impact of using their standing force to be anything more than a bystander and passive counterpart to existing pacific trade was jarring to more than just me fwiw. its not only massive opportunity lost, but its standing resources just... standing

Massive to who?

Like I said, I had to search JUST for that in relation to piracy and Japan, and I do believe it was from over 20 years ago and at the time, they were worried about the trade routes that Japanese ships (as well as others) utilize.

But I have rarely heard about piracy in Japan or their waters if ever.. I understand piracy in south asian countries, but Japan doesn’t view it as their main concern (and they're not the only country transporting goods or using those routes if ever).

But piracy in/around their own country? I doubt that it happens, but if so, they are TRAINED to deal with it with their military just like our Coast Guard is trained to deal with it here in the states. And since it’s not a widely known problem in the country of Japan, they do not seem to be focused solely on that.

I think you're saying they should try to go police everyone in that south asian area because they're a world power? Thats literally the opposite of their policy or number one focus. It’s literally Japan Self-Defense Force...

And I was able to find them doing operations in other countries

https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/gaiyou/jimu/pdf/siryou2/counter-piracy-key-points2021.pdf

 

[Tunez]

Japan still good

 

[Traveler]

This as well… we’re solid allies but they could still get busy if they felt like it

I think they're more focused on technology instead of flat out warring though

We could learn a lot from their society

Japan is a country of contradictions. Once you get outside of downtown Tokyo things get rustic pretty quickly. They produce great technology, just not military technology, they are lagging in that area. They have huge cyber security issues and they have no idea how to protect their tech. They don't really have any espionage laws until recently. One of my favorite countries to be in, but they are a bit different.

 

[O.T.I.S.]

Japan is a country of contradictions. Once you get outside of downtown Tokyo things get rustic pretty quickly. They produce great technology, just not military technology, they are lagging in that area. They have huge cyber security issues and they have no idea how to protect their tech. They don't really have any espionage laws until recently. One of my favorite countries to be in, but they are a bit different.

I was speaking on their military from what Ive seen/know. They are the 3rd largest shipbuilding country in the world and are building even more

And thats all I can say

Top 10 Shipbuilding Countries in the World (2024)

Discover the top players in the global shipbuilding and World shipbuilding ranking by country with insights into the Largest shipbuilding countries, including the Top 10 shipbuilding countries in the world, major leaders in the shipbuilding market, and Leading shipbuilding countries in Asia for...

www.geeksforgeeks.org

They are #3 in general, but have been building for their military as well

Edit: Just to add

Keep It Simple: Japan Shows How to Get Shipbuilding Right

Great naval programs, such as the Japanese multi-purpose destroyers, are born when naval leaders and engineers take measured technical risks and design for future growth.

nationalinterest.org

 

[Traveler]

And Russia was?

Their military was getting beat so bad that they had to hire mecenaries and conscripts to handle Ukraine.

My point is, MOST militaries outside of ours has not been active in anything if you want to play that card.

And I know you were military at some point but were you ever joint? I was and mostly in the pacific theater and saw those exercises up close. Some of the kids they have fighting now, for OUR Navy, are just now seeing their first bit of action as well… looks like their training and exercises (and hopefully better leadership) is holding up.

And they train with us.. tf .. atleast on the Navy/Marine side.

Im not calling them elite because they dont focus on war like WE do… but I think they would've put Russia in a box by now.. Ofcourse with our assistance but not like Ukraines assistance. They are far to COMPETENT of a military

Edit: They were active in Iraq as well, but their not a warring country like that anymore. But to make them sound incompetent is

I also think they've switched their focus more towards Cyber anyway… which some of our own branches can’t even grasp

I work with the Japanese a lot at the strategic level. They are always training with us. They are very competent. If they have to go to war, they will do very well. They just don't have the recent combat experience that we do. I 100% agree with your assessment. One thing I will say their fighter pilots haven't lost their swagger at all. Some of the most aggressive Japanese you will see are their pilots. Japan is slowly awakening, they are spending more on their military and starting to move away from the self defense force thing. We are encouraging it also. Hell, the Kaga just got upgraded to a light carrier, they will have a full carrier in the next 20 years I bet, then watch out. They are also joining AUKUS pillar 2. If we were letting them in Pillar 1...... . But I don't think the Japanese public is ready for Nuke submarines yet.

China like getting flashbacks right now.

 

[O.T.I.S.]

I work with the Japanese a lot at the strategic level. They are always training with us. They are very competent. If they have to go to war, they will do very well. They just don't have the recent combat experience that we do. I 100% agree with your assessment. One thing I will say their fighter pilots haven't lost their swagger at all. Some of the most aggressive Japanese you will see are their pilots. Japan is slowly awakening, they are spending more on their military and starting to move away from the self defense force thing. We are encouraging it also. Hell, the Kaga just got upgraded to a light carrier, they will have a full carrier in the next 20 years I bet, then watch out. They are also joining AUKUS pillar 2. If we were letting them in Pillar 1...... . But I don't think the Japanese public is ready for Nuke submarines yet.

China like getting flashbacks right now.

Exactly

I knew I wasnt pulling shyt out of thin air. I don’t focus on them at all anymore because im not over in that area to completely give a fukk like that, but I knew that they weren’t incompetent and could hold their own and were growing/training their people/fleet for what will seem like the inevitable.

And I believe they are working on carriers I just don’t know how long they have. I know they've ramped up their shipbuilding in the past few years and training in maritime warfare. I also think they're ramping up their submersible game too

The Kaga one is specifically the most recent I read about… they remade an existing ship into a fukking “light” carrier with it’s own benefits. And I think they will do more of that for short term but are still building more.

The argument here is that theyve become pussified and can’t defend themselves and I don’t believe thats a 100% correct statement. More like complacent I think

Didnt know that about the pilots though. Seems legit. I understand how you feel about some of them being weird af and even arrogant, but I respect their traditional culture and willingness to innovate

 

[Traveler]

Exactly

I knew I wasnt pulling shyt out of thin air. I don’t focus on them at all anymore because im not over in that area to completely give a fukk like that, but I knew that they weren’t incompetent and could hold their own and were growing/training their people/fleet for what will seem like the inevitable.

And I believe they are working on carriers I just don’t know how long they have. I know they've ramped up their shipbuilding in the past few years and training in maritime warfare. I also think they're ramping up their submersible game too

The Kaga one is specifically the most recent I read about… they remade an existing ship into a fukking “light” carrier with it’s own benefits. And I think they will do more of that for short term but are still building more.

The argument here is that theyve become pussified and can’t defend themselves and I don’t believe thats a 100% correct statement. More like complacent I think

Didnt know that about the pilots though. Seems legit. I understand how you feel about some of them being weird af and even arrogant, but I respect their traditional culture and willingness to innovate

Yeah I wouldn't say they are pussified. They are just different culturally. The civilans are really focused on being more pacifist and peaceful and tend to hold their government accountable to that. But their military can still get busy if needed. Once they get into it they will learn quickly. Honestly, they just need real experience, but then again not a lot of militaries have that. They are buying most of their military technology from us, they are trying to develop their own but it will take them awhile to catch up.

Remeber who made the Zero?

Guess who is making the F-X

Yup Mitsubishi Industries. Its supposed to be a legit 6 Gen fighter too.

Culturally, they also keep a lot of bullshyt quiet. Their public face is not the same as their private face when they trust you. My counterparts who I deal with are just like American dudes drinking, smoking, and chasing women all night when we go out. I love Japan and look forward to every trip. Their culture is top notch and so respectful. If my comments came off differently that's on me, I didn't mean it that way.

 

[I Really Mean It]

japan docile and quiet? there are multiple ways of protecting power.

 

[O.T.I.S.]

Yeah I wouldn't say they are pussified. They are just different culturally. The civilans are really focused on being more pacifist and peaceful and tend to hold their government accountable to that. But their military can still get busy if needed. Once they get into it they will learn quickly. Honestly, they just need real experience, but then again not a lot of militaries have that. They are buying most of their military technology from us, they are trying to develop their own but it will take them awhile to catch up.

Remeber who made the Zero?

Guess who is making the F-X

Yup Mitsubishi Industries. Its supposed to be a legit 6 Gen fighter too.

Culturally, they also keep a lot of bullshyt quiet. Their public face is not the same as their private face when they trust you. My counterparts who I deal with are just like American dudes drinking, smoking, and chasing women all night when we go out. I love Japan and look forward to every trip. Their culture is top notch and so respectful. If my comments came off differently that's on me, I didn't mean it that way.

Yup

Mitsubishi does their ships too

I think US is trying to have them and Korea assist with our ships as well.

And I messed with enough japanese-ish females, or knew enough of them, to know that they definitely put on a front… but I didn't mind that either. The ones I knew liked me because I was very respectful as well compared to other military cats they ran into.

Co-sign pretty much all of this, especially the first part I just didn’t say it well enough or with less words as I should have.

 

[badboys11]

Japan was maybe the evilest military of all time during the 30s early 40s, they were so evil that time period has been banned from Japanese schools, similar to how white supremacists want slavery taken out the textbooks. Young Japanese kids know nothing about the rape of nanking or the Bataan death march. Vietnam was actually our ally during that time, but that's another topic

For anyone interested, u can get a time magazine subscription for cheap and it gives u access to all of their magazines going back to the early 1900s. You can read 20th century history as it happened. It's different from the narrative they try to tell us. We baited Japan. Cut their oil off. Cause they were on the verge of slaughtering China and taking over Asia. Our politicians also wanted smoke with Germany but the American population wanted no part of a European war.

If u read time magazine, the summer of 1941 they basically knew Japan was going to attack, it wasn't a question of if because they needed oil, it was when and where. They were gonna attack us in the Pacific, we expected it, American media telling history lied to me. It was only a sneak attack to the illiterate and undereducated which was prob 80 percent of America at that time. Pearl Harbor was one of several spots that was expected to be attacked.

We bombed them because our military to this day is still giving out purple heart medals that were prepared for the Japanese invasion. Our country would look different and a lot of us wouldn't be here without the bombs dropping cause our grandfather's would've died in Japan.

Unit 731 might be the worst that mankind has ever invented. Once again, banned from Japanese schools. They were that evil