A Japanese defense unit specializing in outer space disclosed on Wednesday contents of its training. The unit will become fully operational in fiscal 2023.
The Space Operations Squadron was launched in May to protect Japanese satellites from foreign attack and space debris. The Self-Defense Forces rely on satellites for reconnaissance and communication.
Seven nurses from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force are being sent to two medical centers in Osaka Prefecture to help deal with a surge in coronavirus infections at the request of the prefectural government.
A departure ceremony was held on Monday at Camp Itami of the GSDF's Middle Army in Itami City in Hyogo Prefecture.
Japan's Defense Minister says Self-Defense Force medical staff will be sent to Osaka Prefecture early next week to help deal with a surge in coronavirus infections.
Kishi Nobuo told a news conference on Friday that Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi had made an official request for SDF nurses.
NHK has learned that Japan's Defense Ministry plans to dispatch Self-Defense Force medical personnel to Osaka Prefecture, where the healthcare system is under strain from a surge in coronavirus cases.
The ministry will likely send a total of about seven personnel consisting of nurses and other staff.
Japan Self-Defense Force medical teams are in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido to help with large clusters of coronavirus infections.
Ground Self-Defense Force personnel started working Wednesday at Keiyu-kai Yoshida Hospital and Hokkaido Ryoikuen, a facility for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Help is on the way to Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido, which has been hit by cluster infections of the coronavirus. With hospitals struggling with a healthcare worker shortage, the Defense Minister is sending in reinforcements from the Self-Defense Forces.
Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo said, "We concluded that emergency medical assistance to Hokkaido Prefecture is necessary, so we decided to send SDF medical assistance teams on a disaster-relief mission as early as today."
Japan's defense minister has ordered the Self-Defense Forces to send medical teams to a city in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido to help deal with a surge in coronavirus cases.
Kishi Nobuo said at a news conference on Tuesday that he received an official request from the governor of Hokkaido for a dispatch of SDF medical personnel to Asahikawa City.
Japan's defense minister has ordered the Self-Defense Forces to send nurses to the prefecture of Hokkaido to help ease the shortage of healthcare workers due to the coronavirus.
The northern Japanese city of Asahikawa has requested Hokkaido's prefectural government to ask the Self-Defense Forces to send nurses to deal with a series of coronavirus cluster infections.
City officials on Monday asked the Hokkaido government to recognize the situation as a disaster and convey the request for nurses to the SDF.
Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi says he has asked Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo to send nurses from the Self-Defense Forces to treat serious coronavirus cases at a newly established medical facility.
Yoshimura visited the new center for treating COVID-19 patients in serious condition on Monday.
NHK has learned that Japan's government is preparing to send nurses from the Self-Defense Forces to a hospital in Hokkaido to help it tackle surging coronavirus infections.
The city of Asahikawa in the northern prefecture has seen infection clusters spreading at two hospitals.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces have invited members of the media to observe drills to rescue nationals in the event that they get caught in emergency situations overseas, including terrorist activities.
About 270 SDF members took part in the exercises on Wednesday. The drills were conducted at Camp Asaka which straddles Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, and at Hyakuri base in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has urged the three branches of Japan's Self-Defense Forces to overcome boundaries between them in order to better respond to new challenges.
Suga addressed around 800 members of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces on Saturday at an air review ceremony at Iruma Air Base in Saitama Prefecture.
Japan's Defense Ministry has had to put off sending a Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel to the Middle East after one crew member tested positive for the coronavirus.
The ministry says the infection was confirmed on Tuesday aboard the destroyer Murasame, which was due to engage in an intelligence-gathering mission in the Middle East.