Ground Self-Defense Forces take part in the Fuji Firepower 2016 Review (Demonstration) at Higashi-Fuji, near Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. The annual exercise, which is open to the public, attracted over 26,000 visitors this year.
The exercises, called Fire Power, are aimed at defending outlying Japanese islands from a hypothetical invasion. Fire Power is a first-of-its-kind exercise and follows new national defense guidelines.
“There are two main purposes of this demonstration: One is to educate the JGSDF members, especially members of the Fuji School. The other is to help the citizens of Japan to better understand the role we play in the defense of our country” – 2nd Lt. Takashi Tomiyoshi, a public affairs officer assigned to the JSGDF Fuji School