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[[image: pilot wearing oxygen mask in the cockpit of an aircraft with the peak of Mt. Fuji visible below.]]

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[[caption]]...panese Air-Self-Defence Force pilots keep themselves combat ready with training missions. Above is a pilot on a training ...ght in a T-33A with the famous Mount Fuji in the background.  T-33s were built in Japan under license from Lockheed. [[/caption]]
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...rnal organ of the Prime Minister's Office. Its civilian
...irector-General is permitted to sit on the cabinet,
...ut his quasi-ministerial status puts him at a distinct
...sadvantage in pushing his budget requests.

...The Self-Defense Forces are authorized to "protectare authorized to "protect
...e peace and stability of Japan against direct and in
...rect aggression," but there is no draft, and the law no draft, and the law
...rbids Self-Defense Force personnel to be sent over personnel to be sent over
...eas.  The Government has kept strictly to the letter of has kept strictly to the letter of ...is last provision, even to the point of refusing to leadlast provision, even to the point of refusing to let
...elf-Defense Force personnel participate in United
...ations peace-keeping and observation teams. More-
...ver although it is not legally obliged to do so, the
...overnment has considered it politically necessary to ...quip the Self-Defense Forces with strictly defensive
...eapons. Because of these restrictions, the mission of
...ASDF has been limited to protection of Japan's ter-
...torial air space, and until now bombers, and even
...ng-range fighter-bombers, have been taboo. have been taboo.
   Considering the narrow confines in which it must
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operate, JASDF has developed into a surprisingly well equipped and efficient air arm—probably the mos...powerful in the Far East next to the United States an...Soviet air units in the region. Officially, the Defens...Agency maintains a balanced-force philosophy an...
claims to play no favorites in sharing it's meager budge...
($94.6 million or 1.4 percent of GNP in 1966, a...Compared to $55.7 billion or close to nine percent...the GNP for the US). But JASDF, with 37,913 me...has lower personnel and overhead expenses than i...sister services, and it has consistently had a larger pr...
curement budget, which shows up clearly in the quali...of its equipment. Unofficially, military specialists...Japan admit that this emphasis on air-power was pro...ably not accidental.  With the US Army in South Kore...and the Seventh Fleet patrolling the Western Pacifi...the only way for a potential aggressor to attack Jap...has been by air.  Moreover, by building and air for...under licensing agreements, Japan has benefited ec...
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