U.S. and Japanese soldiers move out of a CH-47 Chinook during an Orient Shield air assault exercise at Aibano Training Area, Japan, July 22, 2024. (U.S. Army)
Thousands of Marines joined their Japanese counterparts for training in southwestern Japan over the weekend, just a day after the Army concluded its largest exercise in the country.
Around 3,000 Marines and sailors with the III Marine Expeditionary Force will join Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers for Resolute Dragon, which started Sunday and concludes Aug. 7, III MEF said in a news release Sunday.
The training spans from Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, to the island of Kyushu and the Chugoku region of southern Honshu, the largest of Japan’s four main islands.
Now in its fourth year, Resolute Dragon aims to improve coordination between Marines and Japanese soldiers, with a focus on aircraft and ground forces and live-fire training.
“Resolute Dragon showcases the longstanding partnership between the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan Ground Self Defense Force,” Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, commander of the III MEF, said in the news release.
III MEF spokesman 1st Lt. Owen Hitchcock acknowledged Stars and Stripes’ request for comment by email Monday but said he could not provide an immediate response.
U.S. soldiers and Marines participate in an opening ceremony for the Resolute Dragon exercise alongside their Japanese counterparts at Camp Kengun, Japan, July 28, 2024. (Manuel Alvarado/U.S. Marine Corps)
Resolute Dragon kicked off just a day after the conclusion of Orient Shield, the U.S. Army’s largest annual exercise with the Ground-Self Defense Force.
The training, which the Army calls its “most significant” exercise with its Japanese counterpart, ran from July 18 to Friday and included approximately 800 soldiers from the U.S. and 2,300 from Japan, according to U.S. Army Japan spokesman Manuel Torres-Cortes.
Training primarily took place on Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido, and in Shiga, Mie and Hyogo prefectures in central Honshu, he told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.
This year’s Orient Shield marked the first time both the Army and Marine Corps held a live-fire drill in Japan alongside a Ground-Self Defense Force artillery unit, Torres-Cortes said.
Other events focused on medical evacuation drills, air assault drills, field training and additional live-fire scenarios, according to Orient Shield’s official Facebook page.
While the two exercises are pre-planned, annual events, they overlapped this year with a meeting between top U.S. and Japanese officials who vowed to further deepen collaboration between the two countries’ militaries.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, promised during security talks Sunday more joint exercises and cooperation on intelligence, surveillance and logistics.
The four, in a joint statement released Sunday by the Department of Defense, referred to the U.S.-Japan alliance as “the cornerstone of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond” and mentioned Resolute Dragon, Orient Shield and other exercises as examples of their commitment.
