Japan Prepares to Deploy Long-Range Missiles in Kumamoto | @AbroadinJapan #191

Japan Prepares to Deploy Long-Range Missiles in Kumamoto | @AbroadinJapan #191

Uh, I can’t remember the last time I felt an earthquake. Touch wood. There’s not one soon. That would suck. They are quite scary. Wow. Hello and welcome to the Abroad Japan podcast. Probably the best way of learning about life in Japan without actually being in Japan. I’m your host, Chris Broader. We’re joined as always by England’s top Japan enthusiast, Mr. Pete Donaldson.com. Pete, how the devil are you doing? What’s going on? Mr. Mr. Worldwide. Um, I am good. I’ve just got back from Latafia, Chris. Um, I spent a weekend in Ria. Um, I tell you what, that is a be I always thought like Ria is one of those kind of like stag dewy places that um, Germans and the Dutch go to get drunk and and it is all of those things, but luckily the Germans and the Dutch are quite nice and I like them. Um, so it was good. Um, and they uh, what a beautiful city. Ria is absolutely stunning. beautiful river, beautiful buildings, some of the very best architecture known to uh to Europe, some beautiful clear air. Um bottles of what can only be described as sauerkraut juice uh as health elixir um that I drank uh deep from. Yes, they do sell the juice from sauerkraut as a health drink out there. And I did drink at least half a bottle because I didn’t want to test my constitution too much. You mad, man. I could. Oh god. I feel thinking about that. That’s cool though. I’m slightly envious that you’ve been on yet another holiday and I haven’t had a [ __ ] holiday since January. Just a couple of days. It was just a couple. Your whole life is a holiday. You’re always getting off somewhere. You were You were popping What were you doing last week? Popping off somewhere with Connor. I can’t bloody remember, but you’re always off somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. I just got back from Shikokia with uh Riotro. Not a holiday when you’re filming for eight hours a day in 40° heat. the man is constantly picking on you. We we had fun though. We um we went to a few different restaurants. It was a video where we tried different dishes in each and every prefecture in Shikoku and it was actually quite fun. If if it wasn’t formidably unpleasant weather, it would have been great, but it was uh like you stand outside, you need an umbrella to hide from the sun and you get heat stroke off for like 8 minutes. It’s not so fun. Um but we had some good dishes and we stayed at this hotel one night. It was like the biggest hotel room in Japan. I posted on Instagram to the Scarface soundtrack and you come out of the room and it’s like a mazeette, two floors and there’s a big infinity pool which we didn’t have time to swim in because it wasn’t a holiday as always. Um, but it was lovely. It was cool. It was cool. It was a It was uh it’s a proper influencer lifestyle where you you take photos of things that look good but you don’t actually get to experience it or have any amount of fun. It was a good shoot. It be a good video. We give you no Latafia trips for me. No, sorry. Well, maybe we’ll meet in Latia. I’m sure you’ll be back over Europe in in short order. We can go to Latia. I’ll take you to Latia. I mean, it’s I forget. It’s one of those things. I feel very lucky to do what I do to be able to uh travel and make videos and enjoy the moment. But, uh, also it’s it it’s uh it’s not a holiday so much because you sort of get into a restaurant and they’re like, “Oh, you’re a shy.” And you’re like, “Stop. I need to frame up the camera. I need to think of the lighting. I need to get the camera ready. And it’s like you have to rush around and and I tell you now, filming in a sushi restaurant is the hardest place to get the right angle cuz you got the sushi bar counter, right? The [ __ ] it. It’s a [ __ ] nightmare trying to film in a sushi restaurant. Never do it. But it was also the best restaurant with the nicest chef. So the reflections off the window of the fridge that they keep this salmon in. It’s probably been a nightmare. Bloody reflection. Oh man. But we’ve got a story this week from Joanna uh from Romania who says, “Hello, Chris Pete. Uh, I’m so happy to see your recent Instagram stories about your affforementioned Shikaku trip. It’s such a pretty place. I took a solo trip there in August 2024 during the week of Orbomb. Uh, starting with the Yosakoy Festival in Kochi and doing a roundabout trip towards the Awa Odori Festival in Tokoshima. It’s a famous festival. Lots of dancing. Lots and lots of dancing.” Uh after a long sunny day, I was looking forward to the festival’s evening dance procession, but it started pouring with rain. At least half of the spectators instantly disappeared, but the dedicated dancers decided to keep being great entertainers, so I stayed to cheer them on despite the weather. They all did amazing, and at the end, they invited all the leftover spectators to join in a last procession. What could possibly go wrong? Since it was the literal end of the festival, after everyone reached the end of the road, the festival staff, being typically efficiently Japanese, had already started cleaning, clearing the road for traffic to resume. When I returned to the area I’d been spectating from, I couldn’t find my tote bag anywhere. I’d left my phone, wallet, keys, everything in there. I was stupid to leave it out, but I thought Japan is so safe. I hadn’t given it a second thought. I started to feel myself panicking, asking for help from the staff. I went to two police stations to see if maybe someone had retrieved the tote bag. And basically my plan for the night was to do rounds from one police station to the other until I could find it. Uh at one of the police stations though, there was a woman who was amazing. She consoled me, built built rapport, asked follow-up questions, and most importantly made the officers go out and manually search every corner of the festival area. Eventually, it was found at a trash collecting area on the street. And I could I felt like I could normally breathe again. I thank the officers over and over. Uh went my way to finally sleep after the eventful evening. I have no idea what I would have done if they hadn’t found it. Um I still recommend the two festivals to visitors. They’re very much fun. Uh very much uh a lot of fun. And if you want to participate in the evening, it’s totally doable. Just keep your stuff with you. Joanna from Romania. Thank you very much, guys. There you go. Cheeky bit of high trust society. It’s a great thing. It would not be there in the UK. It would have gone. Well, it will if you fly on Air Baltic, if you drop your um wallet in wherever I dropped it, I don’t actually know. Um somebody handed me my wallet and as they were looking, they were going down the plane looking at my driving license to see who Oh my god. And I don’t look like anything like my driving license, you know. I don’t have any hair. I don’t have a mustache. I’m not wearing glasses as well. Um but yeah, they they managed to locate me and go, I think it’s that guy. A that’s great. I this crazy statistic. According to the BBC in Tokyo, 83% of lost mobile phones and 65% of lost wallets were successfully returned to their owners often on the same day. That’s a beautiful thing, man. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. It’s a service. You never have to worry about losing yourself or losing any of your items. Brilliant. That’s a beautiful thing. It’s a beautiful thing. I um I saw I read another article the other day about uh like a tollgate in uh I think it was Tokyo or Osaka was broken for the day and so everyone just drove through it for free. Yeah. Uh but they asked people please pay it online anyway and I think something like 30 20,000 people actually did pay it you know. Right. Whereas they could have just got away with it. They did go out and they did pay it. So loyalty honesty traits that I wish the world would steal and adopt. Um, but we’ve got a story this week about missiles. Yeah. Everyone’s favorite. And it’s in the the land of the hills of the grotto. Kumoto isn’t just about music and volcanoes. It’s now about long range missiles. Hell yeah. What’s going on, Kumoto? I mean, I’ll tell the listeners about how this show works. Basically, um, I go to bed of an evening and we’ve got little stories. We got little stories in the running order that we’re going to talk about. Um, and when I went to bed last night, it was about a baker. And when I woke up, the new story of this show was Japan arranges to deploy long range missiles in Kumamoto on Kyu. Um, yes, part of efforts to acquire counter strike capabilities to strike enemy targets in the event of a national security emergency. Uh, government sources told uh Monday the first deployment of an upgraded version of the ground self-defense force type 12 landership guided missile is expected. um shortly before the end of the fiscal year um in Kumamoto that’s heading for the land of the grotto etc. uh as you said um they’re going to be strengthening the defense of Japan’s southwest Nancy um island chain which is obviously strategically important due to proximity to Taiwan. I imagine that the US have a hand in that as well. Uh China regards Taiwan obviously as a renegade province which that must be reunified by force if necessary. Uh but the Japanese are not standing idly by. They are positioning um type 12 um domestically product uh produced longrange missiles that they’ve just come up with. Um got a range of 1,000 kilometers, enough to reach parts of China from Kyushu. So there we go. Uh and and and the defense ministry are considering putting those missiles in Oita Prefecture on Kyushaw next next spring or later. Um so actually further and further south. Yeah. And possibly in Okinawa in the future as well. So, it’s a it’s a um it’s a bit of a departure from their no uh you know, no offensive defense uh kind of pacts uh post World War II. Um but I imagine most of the powers that be aka the US um are probably absolutely fine with this because because they’re allies. Pacifism be gone. I remember when I came here, Japan couldn’t really do a whole lot. Uh and then gradually it shifted rather dramatically over the last 10 12 years. uh first Shinszu Arbe rewrote or re sort of edited the constitution on Microsoft Word and uh it’s sort of changed it so Japan could uh work with its allies in the case of a conflict. This constitution is a Google doc. You can change it any moment. What’s going on here? And now Japan is uh in a very different but also Japan is surrounded by uh countries like North Korea who’ve developed nuclear weapons or China which is 3,000 ballistic missiles ready to go at the press of a button uh to launch against Taiwan and various places. And so it’s it’s understandable that uh Japan is developing longrange missiles and deploying them and whatnot. So I uh can’t really blame them when you’re surrounded by such uh regional players who are doing about you know stand on the precipice of doing rather worrying things. But yeah, I remember when I was a teacher 2013, one of my supervisors, really nice guy, uh I talk about in the book, he was uh staunch pacifist and when they started talking about re like modifying the uh I can’t remember which article it was which which um element of the constitution when when the Japanese government was talking about it, he went down he came down here to Tokyo and protested against it uh against that amendment uh which was ultimately futile. Well, uh, cuz they changed it anyway. But, uh, I don’t I wonder I think, um, if you I can’t remember. I think I read a survey that most people in Japan don’t want to get involved with conflict, uh, overseas, though. Um, so it is sort of a a weird one. like they’re rolling out a lot of these uh they’re rolling out a lot of these new capabilities, but I think most Japanese people are still very much pacifist and don’t want to get involved in situations like this. I if China invaded Taiwan, I think most Japanese people would not want Japan to get involved necessarily. Um but I don’t think they’d have much choice necessarily either. I think as an island nation like you you are kind of um wired a little bit differently. You’re sort of like oh why do we need to get involved in this sort of thing? But obviously I don’t know you’re from a country that very much didn’t think like that and took over pretty much half the world. Island nations love a bit of the love a piece of the pie. Oh yeah. Yeah. Back in the day. But I mean you know postindustrial well we did that postindustrial doesn’t matter. I had a crazy history book. It was like every country that the UK has attacked. I think there’s only like five countries in the world that haven’t had some sort of armed confrontation with the British Empire or Britain at some point. U naughty old Britain. But we want to make the world a better place though. But I think uh yeah, I I if uh if there was a conflict with Taiwan, I think one of the first places that would get hit is uh Canada Air Force Base in Naha. Certainly, if I was Chinese, I’d be like, “Let’s just fire 50 missiles and just destroy all of America’s air force capability in one afternoon.” And then given it’s Japanese soil, I think uh Japan would have to get involved. And that is why they have these missiles now because if they saw ballistic missiles inbound to Okinawa or various air bases in Yamaguchi or Miyazaki, they could launch those and sort of they’re more there, I think, as a sort of deterrent than anything. Right. Yeah. uh China’s more reluctant to attack if they know they’re going to get hit with missiles from Japan as well. So, it’s a deterrent more than anything. I think a lot of the um the the the incursions in um in in in in the Ukraine Ukraine is is it’s been a valuable um sort of lesson I think for for the Chinese and any impending kind of invasion of Taiwan. they they are in a situation where I think within about a year the entire direction of warfare has changed to small drones and and I think it’s happened much quicker than anyone had any kind of right to think it was going to. So I think there’s probably a lot of changes being made as to how um money is being spent I think in in in China um and because obviously they they’ve been supplying the Russians with with this and that. I think they only just found a couple of um Chinese soldiers who who found their way um into into the into the Russian ranks quite recently. Um so it’s it’s um yeah, I think there will be course correcting being made um very very quickly because it’s sort of almost gone down to um you know the the Russian kind of um forces were seen as being you know top four or five in the world and and it’s kind of descended into what is effectively World War I trench warfare really. So, it’s it’s it’s an interesting it’s been an interesting kind of change in I mean, yeah, drones have definitely changed the game and uh it’s it’s pretty chilling when you watch the footage of these drones just tearing up the battlefield and they have fly by wire drones which have like a like a 10 to 12 km cable, fiber optic cable on the drone, so it can’t be interfered with. There’s no radar jamming or anything like that. It’s just a cable, right? And it flies for 10 km and it’s as thin as like a, you know, a hair. So, it’s kind of quite hard to look it and and damage genuinely. Uh, insane. Uh, but I still don’t think there’s it’s it’s a full-blown replacement for old-fashioned missiles and B2 stealth bombers or whatever as we’ve seen. So, I think uh yeah, but let’s hope there’s no war in Taiwan. Unless China’s economy does really bad and Zinping’s like, “Shit, we better do something to galvanize the nation. Let’s take over an island.” which will probably backfire unless depending on America if he gets involved or not. But yeah, they reckon 2027 will be a big year for that potentially that 2027 if if China is going to take over Taiwan or attempt to to invade. That is the most likely year or certainly the earliest that they could do it in terms of capability. So that’ll be a rather scary year. Very scary year. Keep an eye. I’ll keep an eye. I’ll make sure to um we’ll talk about a podcast. Yeah. Cool. It’ll be a nightmare. Um we’re back, guys. Your stories, comments, and questions over in the fax machine. Wow. And we’re back with the fax machine. What have we got for our listeners this week, Mr. Dawson? Fill us in. Kevin’s got in touch. Hi, lads and or chaps. On average, how many earthquakes do you notice on a weekly basis in Tokyo? After visiting the past five times, I think I felt one ever so slightly, but I couldn’t be sure. I mentioned to my Japanese friends when visiting their house that I would like to experience one, a small one, just out of curiosity. Here in Scotland, we never get anything like that. They did not react well and were looking to answer, which I realize now after a doctor doctor, after a documentary, how insensitive that question might have been. Regardless, how many do you sort of experience um daily or weekly? Cuz um I’m the same. I’ve been in Japan quite a lot. Never experienced a single one. I’ I’d like to feel what it feels like to a small degree. Well, I just You can just sit in a chair and I’ll push it back and forth aggressively. Cool. Uh I I mean I I uh didn’t really Again, I didn’t think that big a deal of earthquakes until I felt the magnitude 7.2. I think it was the big one in Sai. Living in Sai, there were a lot though. Uh the whole time I was there, there was always, you know, one earthquake a month that you’d really notice and be like, “Oh shit.” Um and smaller ones. But um yeah, according to the Tokyo Earthquake Report, a total of 2,500 earthquakes with a magnitude of four or above have struck within the 300 km of Tokyo in the last 10 years. But yeah, again, you wouldn’t you wouldn’t feel most of them. Uh I can’t remember the last time I felt an earthquake. Touch wood. There’s not one sing. That would suck. They are quite scary. Yeah, I bet. And you always hear about the big one, right? The uh the mega earthquake that hangs over us all Nangai trough. But um yeah, you don’t want to you don’t want to experience it. Trust me. Sunny says, “Hello, lads. I’m off to Tokyo for a week in mid August. I’m looking forward to it more than any trip I’ve ever been on as it’s my first solo trip.” Oh, nice one. I’m prepared for the heat sort of and the long trip from Manchester to Hong Kong to Canada. I’ll be staying in a lovely little hotel in Chioda. Oh, overlooking the uh emperor’s house. And I’m wondering if you could tell me if there’s anything nice in the area that I can go and see other than the palace. Thank you for any advice. Uh looking forward to grabbing a cab on my first night and hunting for the Lost Bar, Sunny. Good man. Good man, Sunny. Get yourself to Lost Bar. You want to It’s so [ __ ] hot out there. You want to go in the bar and have a drink at 3 p.m. It’s the way to do it, right? You you test on the mocktails recently. I saw it. I was. Yeah. Yeah. I Any good ones? I also timed a cheeseboard being made. I was like, “Go, you have 30 seconds.” And they they think they brought it to me. It took 50 seconds from barking my order to sitting there munching a cheeseboard. So that’s a shame. The firings will have been huge. Yeah. The moment it went over the moment it went over 30 seconds, I fire over 30 seconds. Cheese rule. Oh dear. Oh, that’s awkward. I mean, in Chela, you’ve got uh Jim Bchaw book land. There’s like a a whole district with bookstores, which is kind of fun. You’ve got uh the Miji crime museum if you’re feeling you like you want to look at crime. I don’t know. Look at some cool crimes. I suppose Chiela is is the park is nice, right? The emp the park around the emperor’s palace, the imperial palace is a nice place to walk around to jog. Um but there really isn’t a whole lot going on. So you walk it go get walk from there to like Akasaka if you can and visit the uh he shrine which has a a tunnel of Tory gates a bit like Fishimari in Kyoto and that is probably the best thing to do. It’s a little bit of a walk. It’s about a 10 15 minute walk but uh do it and you’ll be richly rewarded and maybe you’ll uh save your trip to K. Um have a great time sunny and stay hydrated and maybe get an umbrella to stay out the sun for the love of God. It’s it’s hot out there. It is beating down at the moment isn’t it? And finally, Malcolm from Canada, he says, “Ela, Grisipe, while in a rather busy onen changing room with exclusively Japanese men, a cleaning lady who must have been around 70, came into the room and started going about her business. None of the naked men seemed phased or even acknowledged her presence. Is it normal in Japanese culture for grandmas to casually invade the men’s changing area, or did I witness something of a rarity?” Love the podcast. That’s for grandma to know. That’s grandma’s little treat. You know, it it does happen. And I remember the first time it happened to me. I was like, “Oh, she walked into the wrong room and she got dementia and she just wandered into the wrong one.” Uh, but no, it’s quite common. It’s quite common. It’s normal. And toilets, women uh like come into the toilets while men are in the toilet and start washing around and stuff. Yeah, it’s it’s a it’s a thing. It’s a thing. And they don’t seem to mind as much in Japan about such things. But yeah, it’s quite weird the first few times you experience it. I’m sure she’s seen everything. I’m sure she’s Nothing you’re doing is going to scare, concern, arouse that woman cuz she’s seen everything. You’ve seen everything. Japan, grandma. It’s not out of the ordinary. Don’t worry about it. Uh, best of luck, Malcolm. Best of luck. Best of luck. Keep the stories, questions, comments coming in Japan podcast atgmail.com. We’ll be back later in the week, guys. But for now, have yourself a fantastic few days. and we’ll see you right back here to do it all over again on the Abro Japan podcast. Bye for now. Stop looking at my Willie. [Music]

31 seconds is simply too long to wait for cheese.

🇯🇵Get your SUPER FAST Japan eSIM: https://jjesim.com

⭐ PREVIOUS EPISODE:

Feat @AbroadinJapan

00:00 Riga Envy
03:44 Why Lost Property Doesn’t Stay “Lost” In Japan
07:13 Long-Range Missiles In Kumamoto
16:02 How Many Eartquakes Do You Actually Notice?
17:46 What To See In Chiyoda

AbroadInJapanPodcast@gmail.com for all your messages – and remember you can listen to the show in audio form wherever you get your podcasts – https://shows.acast.com/abroadinjapan