(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
Today, from 9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., I held a telephone conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of the U.S., for approximately 30 minutes. This is my first meeting since assuming the office. At the outset, I offered my greetings as the new Defense Minister and stated my determination to fundamentally reinforce defense capabilities and strengthen the Japan-U.S. Alliance. Secretary Austin congratulated me on my appointment. Then, we affirmed that they will work together with each other and regional partners more closely than ever in light of intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the Indo-Pacific region. We also confirmed that we will continue to work closely together on important initiatives to reinforce Alliance deterrence and response capabilities such as upgrading command and control frameworks and expanding bilateral presence in the southwestern region of Japan. In addition, we concurred that we will further strengthen and accelerate the work to realize the realignment of facilities and areas of the U.S. Forces in Japan . I held a very meaningful discussion with Secretary Austin during today’s teleconference. The two of us share several things in common. Secretary Austin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point , while I graduated from the National Defense Academy . We related to each other as defense ministers who attended similar institutions. Furthermore, we are both from the ground forces. Secretary Austin is from the U.S. Army, and I am from the Ground Self-Defense Force. Even our respective services are similar. I was in the infantry , and Secretary Austin was an infantry officer. I was a ranger instructor , while Secretary Austin was in airborne. We share similar field experiences. Moreover, this was my third meeting with a U.S. Secretary of Defense. The first was with Secretary Rumsfeld and the second with Ashton Carter. The third was today. Secretary Austin’s military career, particularly his close relationship with Secretary Rumsfeld, sparked our lively discussion. Another commonality we share is that we both played rugby. I was talking to the Secretary thinking he was a front-row player, but it turned out he was a lock in the second row. So, we concurred to form a scrum and work together. I discovered that we share a lot of common hobbies or values. We concluded our first telephone conference with mutual trust and a shared view to work toward reinforcing the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. Alliance.