The Japanese and U.S. defense chiefs held talks Wednesday in Tokyo to help put the final touches on revised bilateral defense cooperation guidelines set to be released by the end of this month.
Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met ahead of the planned release of the new guidelines at "two-plus-two" talks involving the two countries' foreign and defense ministers in Washington on April 27, according to Japan's (Kyodo) News Agency.
Updating of the guidelines is a "historic effort" to make the Japan-U.S. alliance "stronger, more than ever," Nakatani said at the outset of the meeting, which was open to the press.