NATO and Japanese military officials sat down in Tokyo this month to expand practical cooperation, in talks led by NATO Brigadier General Unguder Eray and Japan's General Shirai Ryoji.
The two delegations worked through security concerns spanning both the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theaters — a pairing NATO officials described as increasingly inseparable. Discussions centered on joint military exercises, training programs, professional courses and the practical question of how well Japanese and NATO forces can operate together. The visiting delegation also met separately with representatives from Norway and Romania.
NATO and Japan have kept up formal contact since the early 1990s; the last round of staff talks was held at NATO headquarters in June 2024, making this month's Tokyo session the first to take place on Japanese soil in nearly a year.