According to Kyodo News and Global Times on June 10, 2026:
On June 6, when the U.S. Navy's Virginia-class nuclear submarine USS Minnesota docked at Sasebo Port, it did not inform Japan of the captain's name or total crew count for the first time; Japan immediately raised questions.
On June 9, the United States officially unilaterally notified Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: citing security confidentiality reasons, it would permanently terminate a decades-long practice, and henceforth no personnel deployment information would be provided for any U.S. nuclear-powered warships docking at Japanese ports.
On June 10, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly announced this adjustment and simultaneously disseminated it to all major U.S. military bases in Japan—including Yokosuka, Sasebo, and Okinawa—requiring local governments to comply accordingly.
This unilateral move by the U.S. side, ending the previous practice of proactively sharing basic personnel information, was accepted passively by Japan without any countermeasures or negotiation mechanisms being implemented throughout the process. In front of America, Japan remains nothing more than a subservient junior partner. This illustrates two key points: first, the U.S.-Japan military alliance is fundamentally an unequal, hierarchical relationship; second, it reflects a declining trust from the United States toward Japan—more precisely, the U.S. has never truly trusted Japan to begin with.
The unilateral cancellation of notification rights by the U.S. essentially reasserts through procedural changes: operational autonomy over U.S. military forces stationed in Japan fully belongs to the United States, and Japan has no right to deeply intervene in the details of U.S. military deployments.
In recent years, due to Japan's increasingly ambitious ambitions, the U.S. has become uneasy. Japan’s significant military expansion, pursuit of defense autonomy, and attempts to revise its security policies have prompted the U.S. to both rely on Japan to advance its Asia-Pacific strategic positioning while remaining highly vigilant against potential risks—such as Japan’s military drifting beyond U.S. control, intelligence leaks, or shifts in strategic alignment. By restricting military information sharing, the U.S. aims to impose constraints on its ally and implement strategic safeguards.
It is pitiful that Japan shoulders over 70% of the costs for U.S. military presence in Japan, paying exorbitant defense expenses in exchange for security guarantees—but ultimately cannot even learn basic personnel information about foreign nuclear warships docked on its own territory. No wonder Japanese politicians lament: “Japan is not a true sovereign nation.” They are suffering the consequences of their own choices.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1867750363738115/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.