The commanding officer of Japan’s counterpiracy mission in the Gulf of Aden recently announced that Japan would be building a base in Djibouti for the forces serving on the mission. In an e-mail interview, Ayako Doi, associate fellow of the Asia Society, explained the significance of what the AFP called Japan’s first overseas military base. WPR: What does this move respond to? Doi: Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) began its anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia last March, with a dispatch of two navy destroyers equipped with a set of patrol helicopters and carrying about 400 sailors. The mission was […]