[1/5] Local residents watch an evacuation drill by Japan Self-Defense Forces soldiers on Yonaguni island, Japan's westernmost inhabited island in Okinawa prefecture, Japan November 12, 2023.
About 200 island officials and members of Japan's military, known as the Self-Defence Force (SDF), took part in the exercise on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost island, 2,000 km (1,240 miles) southwest of the capital, Tokyo.
"Today we conducted a disaster drill, but it also gives people something to think about that will come in useful in a Taiwan emergency," Sugama said.
About 180 Yonaguni residents came to the island's only junior high school to watch the first such exercise in four years.
Troops stationed at an island army camp, that was opened in 2016 as part of a programme to reinforce Japan's island outposts, provided lunch and foot baths.
Persons:
Issei Kato, Kenichi Itokazu, Koji Sugama, Sugama, Yonaguni, Nancy Pelosi, Fumio Kishida, Tim Kelly, Robert Birsel
Organizations:
Japan Self - Defense Forces, REUTERS, Sunday, - Defence Force, SDF, Troops, Thomson
Locations:
Okinawa prefecture, Japan, China, Taiwan, Tokyo, island's, Honshu, Ukraine, Beijing, Japan's