Japan put its Self-Defence Forces on demonstration mode as part of an annual exercise at the foot of Mount Fuji intended to showcase the nation's ability to defend itself and to drum up support for plans to give Japanese troops a broader role at home and abroad. Designed more as a spectacle than a training opportunity, the exercises focus on a scenario in which Japan is attacked from the sea. This year's exercises involve 2,400 troops, 30 aircraft and 80 tanks and other armoured vehicles The exercises, held since 1961, are the biggest event put on by Japan's army, called the Ground Self-Defence Forces, each year.
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