Japan to Norks: Bring It On!

Japan is pretty confident that the Norks aren't going to be much of a threat.

At Iruma military base in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, air force major Hiroshi Taniguchi is ready for anything. As commander of the 4th air defence missile unit, Taniguchi is on the frontline of Japan's much downplayed but scarily real stand-off with North Korea, one of several potential conflicts in a rough neighbourhood.

Japanese politicians and their US military allies tend to soft-pedal problems with Pyongyang, stressing the need to resume the diplomatic process broken off last year. But no one at Iruma has forgotten the moment last April when North Korea lofted a TaepoDong-2 long-range ballistic missile over Japan, sending it crashing into the Pacific – or the North's second nuclear test explosion the following month.

"If an enemy dares to attack us, that's lucky for us," an unsmiling Taniguchi said. "Once they are within range, it is our opportunity, not theirs."

By: Brant