(27 Aug 2009)
1. Convoy of tanks moving through field
2. F2 plane flying
3. Wide of tanks firing artillery
4. Close up of tank firing
5. Carrier helicopter picking up troops from the ground by rope
6. Troops being lifted from ground by helicopter, firing guns, pull out to wide of helicopter
7. Mid of tank firing artillery
8. Wide of Mount Fuji in the background and tankers firing towards the target in a shape of Mount Fuji
9. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Shigeru Suginaka, Captain of Public Relations Section of the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force:
"We continue to have concerns in the world but based on requests by the United Nations, the Japanese Self-Defence Force will continue to assist with our usual duties of giving humanitarian support and assisting in the peacekeeping of the region. We are contributing more in international activities and wish to give our best efforts by joining international forces."
10. Rocket being fired at target, zoom in on explosions
11. Wide of the grand finale with tanks, helicopters, military vehicles and explosions
12. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Vox Pop, Yoichi Nakahara, spectator:
"The Japanese defence force is working so hard, more than what we Japanese citizens expected."
13. Wide of spectators seated
STORYLINE:
The Japanese Self Defence Forces demonstrated their military readiness in an annual drill at the foot of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture on Thursday.
The exercise involved a variety of tanks, armoured vehicles, helicopters and troops who demonstrated military training drills regularly undertaken by the Japanese ground defence force.
According to the Captain of Public Relations Section of the force, Shigeru Suginaka, the Self Defence Force assists with peacekeeping and provides humanitarian support on top of its national security operations.
Thursday's display involved some two-thousand four-hundred soldiers, 80 tanks and armoured vehicles, 80 artillery units, 25 aircraft and 400 other military vehicles.
It is the largest display of its kind and open to the public at the Higashi Fuji Japan Drill Field beneath the shadow of Mount Fuji.
Around twenty thousand people watched the action and the drill cost over three (m) million US dollars, which used around 44 tonnes of gunpowder.
This year Japan's self defence force joined multinational forces in the fight against pirates off the Somali coast - the first international policing assignment for Japan's military since World War II.
Japan has a pacifist constitution that forbids offensive military operations.
In 2004 Japan deployed ground troops to Iraq in a non-combat, humanitarian capacity.
The country also has a refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean that supports US forces in Afghanistan.
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